The Gravity of Darkness
by UBE Chief
Summary: Sequel to Dimensional Warriors Collide. Betrayed by the ones he used to fight alongside with, Scott's new family is torn apart. Now alone, a child must survive the people who killed her parents.
1. Visitors

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or form. Nintendo, Game Freak and its affiliates do.

Description: Sequel to Dimensional Warriors Collide. Betrayed by the ones he used to fight alongside with, Scott's new family is torn apart. Now alone, a child must survive the people who killed her parents.

Rating: M

Chapter One: Visitors

* * *

We watched as our little ones played with each other.

"How often are you training Riolu, Lucario?"

"As often as his mother lets me," he replied with a bark of laughter.

'I think they look so cute together.'

"Well I think if you joined them, it would complete the beauty of the scene."

Gardevoir shoved me lovingly.

"It's true!" I said indigently.

'Maybe so, but it doesn't mean you have to let our kids hear,' she replied.

It's been about five years since Gardevoir and I started a family, and Rose knew from day…well, not day one, that I was the "Gallade" of the house. Lucario, Luxray and Infernape were all gathered in our house deep within a forest where only Pokemon tread. As far as I knew, no other human had come this far in Treeshroud Forest, and I was essentially betting my family's lives on it. But after these many years, I had decided to relax on my paranoia and enjoy the high life. No more missions from the Great Ones, and nobody from my old unit had come to find me. Life was good, and Rose and Riolu really did look cute together. I secretly wondered if they would get together and have a family of their own someday.

"So how's your pack, Luxray?"

"The same as ever. Travelling, eating, and nearing our mating grounds."

"I take it that you still haven't found the one you're looking for?"

"No female Luxray's want anything to do with me. After being under your wing for over ten years, I still have the scent of humans on me."

"Ah, don't worry. You'll find the right girl for you someday. Someone who respects you for who you are and where you came from."

"To be honest Luxray, I'm surprised that female Luxray's don't want you. I mean you're covered in scars and you've been bathed in blood more times than I can count."

"I don't know either. But all I know is that I shouldn't give up."

"That's the spirit!" I said, clapping a hand on his back.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Nearing the objective, over."

"_Make sure that nothing hears you approaching._"

"Copy that. I'll report back in five."

* * *

"All right, who wants some dinner?"

"ME!"

"All right you two, settle down. Go wash up and sit down when you're done."

'Yes dad.'

As the two left for the washroom, I heard a knock. I went over to the door and peered through the little hole I made. I opened the door wide.

"Dragonite! How nice to see you!"

"It's been too long. How's the family?"

"Ah, you know, busy, fun and a slight pain in the back."

'I heard that dad!'

We laughed. "So what brings you here?"

"Passing through, I'm just on my way to the Dragon's Lair where all Dragon-types gather for mating."

"And after five years you still haven't got a mate?"

She slugged me, hard. "Just because I've been alone for that long doesn't mean I want to be alone!"

Coughing, I stood back up. "I never said that. I'm just wondering if you recently found this area…and haven't got a mate yet."

"Well, I did find this place a little too late for me to catch a mate, but hopefully there'll be several single males around."

"Good luck. You want to have something to eat before continuing?"

"No thanks, there's going to be a feeding frenzy after the mating."

"All right. Be seeing you then. And have fun looking for a mate!"

As she disappeared into the darkening sky, I shut the door and bolted it. I wanted to make sure that no Dark-types broke in. Unfortunately all Psychic-types couldn't sense Dark-types. I couldn't either, considering that I had gotten my own telepathic abilities from mating with Gardevoir.

'Scott! Everyone's waiting!'

"On my way dear," I replied.

* * *

After dinner, we bade goodnight to everyone and they left, leaving just the four of us. We were just cleaning up the dishes when I heard a slight noise. This wasn't the trees moving, it was something more sinister.

"Gardevoir, take Rose and head into the den. Lock yourselves in until I say so."

'Not another attack?'

"Those Mightyena don't seem to want to give up attacking our house. This time I'll have to teach them a lesson."

As they hurried downstairs, I went over to a hidden closet and opened it. Inside there was an assortment of weapons and two black bars. These were the brand-new Personal Riot Energy Shields, or PRES, and they would activate at the slightest thought of defending yourself. Twice the power of the original RES, these would serve me well in protecting my household from these Dark-types. Another added bonus is that they have built-in batons that extend from either the front or the back. I chose to pick the models that extend the batons from the rear, almost giving me the appearance of a Gallade. Speaking of which, I had modified them to extend and retract with my thoughts, and they also had short swords built into the batons. I could essentially retract the batons, leaving the blades extended at my whim. I strapped these two on my arms and activated them, the shields giving off a slight gold tinge.

"Infernape, guard the entrance to the den. I don't want a Mightyena to sneak past and break the door down."

As he left, a Mightyena bounded into the room, growling. I shifted my stance to a defensive style.

"How long are you going to attack my family?"

"_Your_ family? How disgraceful. You have mated with a Pokemon and claim the family that spouted from this transgression as _yours_? I will make sure you will die slowly and painfully while the rest of my pack eats your 'family' alive!"

"I won't give you that chance!" I shouted, sprinting towards the beast, batons extending. His claws merely glanced off the shields, and I hit him with a baton. He yelped, but after a quick glance at where I hit, he growled.

"We keep on attacking, and yet you still don't want to harm us? Even after I threatened to eat your so-called family alive, you _still_ decide to use non-lethal intentions? You will regret making this fatal mistake, human!"

As he pounced towards me, I retracted the batons, only leaving the silvery metal of the swords. I placed the shields in front of me, making the Mightyena bounce off.

"If you still want to harm me and my family then I have no choice," I said, deactivating the shields. "Kill me then, and claim your victory."

"With pleasure," he growled, and ran at me. He only got halfway there when he stopped. "Where are you?"

"Right here," I whispered in his ear. As he turned around, I jabbed my right elbow into the base of his neck, aiming for the jugular vein. The blade sunk in, causing the beast to howl in pain, jerking back, but making a vital, and fatal, error. As the short sword withdrew from his neck, blood spurted out, covering my arm with the dark red substance.

"How…how did you move so fast?" he gasped, his life force seeping out of the deadly wound.

"Who said I moved? I teleported," I replied, bringing the other blade down upon his neck, beheading the beast. It was then, during the silence after the battle that I heard several shouts of pain coming from the general direction of the den. I rushed there, only to see Infernape battling half a dozen Mightyenas.

'Infernape,' I projected, 'are you all right?'

'What does it look like? I'm being beaten by a bunch of cowards, hanging onto a thread of my life, and you ask me how I am?'

I quickly sprinted into the fray, slicing off a few legs as I moved towards him.

"Sorry for the delay old friend."

"I'm not that old yet," he retorted.

"The human survived our leader! Kill him!"

"Ah, crap. And I was hoping they'd leave after they saw me," I said, slamming a fist into a hidden side panel, opening a hidden alcove with a P90 sub-machine gun. I took it out and cocked the charging handle.

"I was saving this for a birthday party, but it looks like I have to spoil the surprise. Now I'll give you five seconds to leave, or I'm opening fire."

The Mightyena looked at themselves, then back at me.

"No? All right then. One…Two…Five!" I shouted, bringing the weapon to shoulder height and opening fire. The 5.7x28mm rounds tore through the Pokemon, killing most of them almost instantly. The rest tried to crawl away, only to have the rounds tear into their backs. The 50-round mag emptied almost as fast as I had counted. I took a spare magazine from the alcove and replaced the spent one. Putting the weapon back into the alcove, I closed it, and moved to a still-living Mightyena.

"I hope that Arceus saves your soul. If not, well…I hope Giratina has a space for you in the Distortion World," I said, bringing a still-extended blade down onto its head with a sickening _crack_. I withdrew the blade from the now-dead Mightyena and rapped on the door of the den. I heard a bolt being unlocked and then the door opened.

'Daddy!'

'Oh, Scott!'

"Don't worry, it's not my blood. We finished off those Mightyena. They won't be bothering us anymore," I said as they embraced me.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Target has eliminated a pack of Mightyena. I have noted usage of teleportation abilities and two high-output energy signatures. Signatures match upcoming prototype Personal Riot Energy Shields. Gunfire has also been detected. Sound matches FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon. Request action to take, over."

"_Initiate contact. Do not, I repeat do not attack until further orders or unless you are in immediate danger. Do you copy?_"

"I copy. Eagle out."

Continued in Chapter Two…

* * *

A/N: Attacked by a pack of vicious Mightyena, Scott managed to protect his family. But who is this Eagle?

- UBE Chief

Another note: In case you didn't know, Rose is Scott's daughter, who is still a Ralts.


	2. Old Friends

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See previous Chapter.

Chapter Two: Old Friends

* * *

I had just finished disposing of all the dead bodies - I didn't want anyone to come out while I was doing so - and had also washed all the blood off the floors and my arms when there was a knock. Not a rapid knock, but more like a simple knock that you would get if a rock hit a wall.

"Hey Spartan, you in there?"

I froze. The only people who would know that name were in the Black Ops. I also haven't used that name ever since I had left the elite group. Either this was bad news, or it was a persistent friend who finally found me. I went over to the still-open closet where I got my PRES' and grabbed a Glock 18, loaded it with an extended clip, and headed to the door.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"What, you don't remember my voice? I know it's been years, buddy, but come on!"

"Eagle?"

"Finally he remembers! Lemme in, let's chat."

I hesitated.

"C'mon Spartan, this is important. More than you realize."

I opened the door a slight crack, and peered out. It was him all right. The only one who constantly stood by me through thick and thin.

"Come in."

As he entered, I noticed several bulges in his coat. I knew that this wasn't a kind visit, even if he was my friend.

"Thanks old friend. I couldn't trouble you for a nice cup of joe, could you? I've been travelling through this damn forest for weeks, and I'm almost out of food."

"Sure, wait here," I replied.

'Scott? Who is it?'

'An old friend. You can come out, but leave Rose with Infernape. If anything goes wrong, I want her to be with someone that she knows and trusts.'

Right now I was thanking Arceus for giving me the blessing of having something as powerful as the mating bond. I didn't want anything listening in on our conversations, despite the fact that we were both telekinetic. I returned to the room, where I gave Eagle the cup of coffee.

"Hey thanks. Now on to the reason I'm here. I got some bad news for you, Spartan. Teams Rocket and Galactic have been increasing their activities over the past five years and they've even managed to get some of the military under their payroll. This includes some of our old unit, the Black Ops."

"Shit!" I said, slamming a fist on a wall, denting it. "Anything else?"

"Yep. Believe it or not, they've now been cracking down on illegal families. Like gays, lesbians et cetera."

"Does this include other families as well?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"Well, both human and Pokemon gays and lesbians are ousted…along with human-Pokemon relationships. Why, you know someone that's in that kind of relationship?"

I couldn't speak. I knew that Gardevoir had heard everything, and she was just as worried as me. I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat.

"Yes. I know someone who's very close to me who's in that kind of relationship." This, of course, was a boldfaced lie, but I couldn't let any human - not even one of my closest friends - know about my relationship with Gardevoir.

"You look kind of nervous, friend," Eagle said, a grin creeping up on his face. "What's up?"

Before he could even react, I moved close to him, drew the Glock, and aimed it squarely at his face.

"You know. You've known even before you came here. Even before you entered the forest. Who sent you?"

He laughed. Not a happy laugh, but an emotionless laugh that left a chill down your spine. "You've figured me out. But what are you going to do? Kill me? You can't kill your best friend in cold blood!"

"Try me. I know you have several weapons hidden in your coat, along with at least four Pokemon as your backup. But you still haven't answered my question. Who the fuck sent you?"

"Tsk, tsk. You really need to control your temper. And such language! You should know better than to swear when there's a child in the house."

I racked the slide of the pistol and screwed the weapon into his forehead. "Fuck off. Either you tell me who sent you, or I blow your brains out all over the side of the wall."

"Do you really think I came alone? Do you really think that I would really be sent here by people that you have no idea who they are by myself? You really are out of your league now, Scott. Five years of simply caring for this abomination of a family has made you soft."

"You're testing my patience, Erek. I don't care about the life story of how the fuck you came under their influence; I just want to know who they are."

He laughed again. "You really want to know that badly? Then you're going to have to be in two places at one, because I'm about to send the order for a sniper to fire."

The realization hit me. I quickly activated my two PRES's and made to teleport to where Gardevoir was. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my arm.

"Ah, ah, ah! No porting for you, my little freak, you gotta -" I cut him of by slugging his face as hard as I could, making him lose grip, and I teleported to where my love was. When I appeared, she looked shocked.

'I thought you couldn't teleport! You weren't supposed to be able to do that for another three years!'

'Times change. Where's Rose and Infernape?'

'In the den. Scott, I'm so scared. How did he find out?'

'I don't know, but -'

"Hey Scott! Come out come out where ever you are! You can't hide from me or my sniper! We both have thermal imaging, and you don't!"

'Scott, what -'

'Get to Rose and Infernape. Get them out of here, as far as you can, then come back for me. No, don't argue. Tell them to make their way to Lucario's. You don't want to be here for what I'm going to do.'

Tears were gathering at the edges of her eyes. Such beautiful red eyes. I wish I could look into them for an eternity, but I knew that was never going to happen now. She stroked the side of my face with one slender arm.

'Please, please be careful Scott.'

'You know me, I like to make one helluva scene,' I replied, kissing her before turning away. A soft _whoosh_ came from behind me, and I knew that she was gone. Now I could concentrate on the one who wanted me and my family dead. Little did anyone know that I had taken the rest of my Nova grenades and placed them in strategic places all around the house, making the entire area a kill zone. I knew better than to detonate them when I was still inside, but I would if there was no other choice.

"Hey Erek, I bet that your sniper won't see the bullet that's about to get him in the head!"

"What are you talking about? I see your rifle here, and it's not even loaded!"

"Who said it was my M107? I have a much better one pointed right at your buddy!"

"What are you…"

His voice faded out as I concentrated on the M24 sniper rifle placed on the top of the roof. I had previously placed it there early after we had built the house, for simple fear that someone would come looking for us. I had simply forgotten it after a year. Luckily, it was protected from the elements by a slightly smaller roof, making it appear that it was just an extension of the main roof. As I concentrated, all local sounds were drowned out by the more audible exterior. I focused, and my Aura sight kicked in. Years of practicing this technique with Lucario had honed my skills enough to allow me to detect all non-friendlies and friendlies. As my sight looked around, I spotted a red outline of a person in a tree about four-hundred meters away from the house, trying to get a decent shot at it. I rotated my view so that I was "looking" through the scope of the bolt-action rifle. I regained the lock I had on the other person, "zoomed" in, aimed slightly high to accommodate for distance and winds, and increased the Psychic pressure on the trigger. A loud and resounding _crack_ echoed through the house and I "saw" the red figure drop from the tree, dropping a sniper rifle of its own onto the ground.

"Regal, come in! Do you copy? Regal! Damn it!"

Erek's voice came in loud and clear now that I had relaxed. My head throbbed slightly, an after-effect of using too much Psychic powers.

"What's the matter old friend, did your buddy stop transmitting? Maybe I killed him, hmm?"

"Shut up! There's no way you could've killed Regal!"

"Oh really? You know I can teleport, so why can't I use Psychic manipulation? It's one of the simplest forms of Psychic control after all…"

I heard a bolt cycle, and the sound of footsteps followed.

"Don't you DARE act as if you know everything. I may have been your underling in the Black Ops, but now I'm out for blood!"

I still had both of my shields active, so I deactivated them, and concentrated on the fuse box in the attic. The entire house plunged into darkness.

"Are you stupid? I can see where you are now, clear as day! I still have my thermal imaging device, if you've forgotten!"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten," I said, lowering my voice. "It's you that's forgotten. I gained top marks for stealth and assassination, and you failed so badly, I almost cried in laughter."

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh, I won't. For now, you're on my turf. Not yours, mine. Any advantage you had while the lights were on is now gone. Sure, you may have the advantage in close-combat, but there's no way you're going to beat me now."

A burst of fully-automatic fire ripped through the house.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

Another burst.

I walked out into the near pitch-black hallway. The moon tonight was supposed to be a new moon, giving me complete darkness for stealth. I focused again, and my Aura sight came back. I searched the house, and found one point of red in an entire sea of blue. As I closed in, I could hear his ragged breathing, the clinking of his spare magazines, and the subtle rustle of his body armour. I holstered the Glock and extended the blades on my PRES'.

"Now you're going to learn the hard way why you never attack me or my family. I hope you have some sort of recording device, because anyone on the other end will be hearing your screams as you die."

"COME OUT HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"

A short burst, followed by a rapid clicking, and several quiet mutterings of expletives. I heard him fumbling for another magazine, and I knew it was my time to strike. I moved in…

"Gotcha."

The single word caught me off guard, and there was a bright flash of light, completely obscuring my vision, followed by a loud ripping noise echoed throughout the hallway. I felt something punch me, but I had no idea what it was. As I collapsed to the floor, I clutched my side, feeling something wet there. It was then that, for once, he had caught me by surprise, shooting me in the process.

"So, you had managed to get me. Congrats. But you haven't beaten me yet."

"Oh no? You're the one who's on the floor, bleeding, whereas I'm still up, not even harmed."

"You forgot the punch to the face," I remarked.

He chuckled. "You lie here, under my mercy, and you still have enough strength to crack a joke? Same old Scott, you haven't changed a bit."

"And same old Erek, completely forgetting that I still have the upper hand," I said, disappearing.

"Where'd you go?"

"Right here," I whispered, jabbing both of my blades deep into his shoulders. He screamed out, and I withdrew both blades, sweeping one across his back. As he collapsed, he managed to spin around, landing on his injured back, pointing his weapon - an MP5, I realized - at me. He fired the gun point-blank on full auto, peppering me with several rounds - or would have, if not for the time-freeze ability I had only used once before. I simply dodged the rounds and stepped closer to him.

"How?"

"The question is not how, but what happens next. Do I let you live, injured enough to not fight back, but enough to leave and tell your boss, or do I kill you and be done with it?"

"I think…neither," he said, withdrawing a large pistol. Before I could even move, the weapon flashed. I staggered back, feeling the throbbing pain that accompanied being shot by a .45 ACP round. I had to regain the upper hand, no matter the cost. As the weapon flashed again, I focused with all my might, and the world slowed. The bullet appeared before my eyes, a mere two inches from my head. I sidestepped, activated a PRES, and took out the Glock. Placing the shield in front of me, I let time resume its course. The bullet moved on, striking the ceiling, and brought down a slight draft of dust.

"I'm sorry old friend, but you lose," I said, pulling the trigger. Thirty-three rounds tore into his body, making him jerk around. As the last bullet left the chamber, the handle locked back, and I couldn't fire anymore. I reflexively reloaded the weapon, and holstered it. Deactivating the PRES and retracting the blades, I called out to Gardevoir with what little strength remained in me. I was getting tired, a bad sign that I had lost a large amount of blood. Within five minutes, everyone was back inside the house, and Gardevoir had tended to my wounds. Little Rose was scared stiff at seeing me covered in blood, but I had assured her that I was going to be okay. Infernape had recovered quickly after the fight with the Mightyena and made sure I could walk around without help. It was only then that we headed off to bed, completely drained from today's events.

* * *

'Daddy?'

I looked up from the bed and saw the small form of my daughter.

'Yes?' I was too damn exhausted to speak audibly.

'Can I sleep with you tonight?'

'All right, just watch Daddy's bandages,' I warned.

With that, I sensed a burst of happiness as Rose climbed up onto the bed - with a little help from me - and snuggled up in between me and Gardevoir and promptly fell asleep.

'I told you that she'd get used to you someday,' a sleepy voice said.

'I never thought it would be after this though,' I replied.

'Do you think what your old friend said was true?'

'I don't know. I can only hope that no one else knows we're here.'

'I hope so too. Goodnight, my love.'

'Goodnight, my beautiful silver angel.'

Continued in Chapter Three…

* * *

A/N: Old friendships evaporate, replaced by a fight to the death. Does anyone else know where they are? What about the person who gave the order to Eagle? How long will this illusion of peace last? More in the chapters to come…

- UBE Chief


	3. Torn Apart

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Chapter Three: Torn Apart

Decided on a song to accompany this chapter. Metallica - To Live Is To Die. Mostly instrumental, but fits almost perfectly when Scott wakes up until the end of the chapter. - Added on 9/27/10

* * *

"_All teams, proceed to Waypoint Delta, repeat, all teams proceed to Waypoint Delta._"

They were shadows in the night. They were the bane of terrorist groups. They were…

The Black Ops.

Now they were going after a different target. Not a high-ranking leader of some random terrorist group - they were all under their paycheck anyways - but an old teammate who had killed one of their own. Their orders were to get to Spartan, retrieve him - dead or alive - and, if possible, kill his abomination of a family. Their secondary orders are to kill any friends of Spartan, human or otherwise. Failure is not an option for this elitist group of counter-terrorists.

* * *

_Be-be-be-be-be_

I shot up from my short sleep, awakened by an alarm I had taken from the UNSC five years ago. I only activated it during the night, and it would go off if anything came within a half-kilometer radius of my home. Infernape also had one installed in his room as well, allowing the pair of us to work in unison if anything dared to try and attack us. Gardevoir and Rose knew the alarm well, as it was their only way of knowing something was amiss. Usually, it was a pack of Dark-type Pokemon, out for their nightly hunts, but considering that only one pack roamed around this area - and had been dealt with - something - or someone - was steadily creeping up on us.

"Gardevoir, you know the drill. Get Rose to a safe distance and wait. Infernape and I will take care of this."

She nodded, and took the still-sleeping form of our daughter into her arms, and disappeared. I then lifted up the top of a nearby table, revealing a well-hidden laptop, which provided me with real-time satellite thermal images of the surrounding area. Hopefully whoever was making their way here - and there were a lot of them - didn't notice Gardevoir and Rose hiding, wherever they were. I donned the PRES', and bent over to get a weapon case hidden under the bed. Inside the case were two M9 pistols, already loaded, a G36 assault rifle with a 100-round drum mag and several 30-round mags as spares, a Kevlar bulletproof vest, four fragmentation grenades and four plasma grenades, courtesy of the Covenant. I loaded the G36 with the drum magazine and strapped the spares to the vest, clipped the grenades to the vest as well, then put the vest on. Infernape strode into the room and took a good long look at my loadout.

"Big group?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be strapping these weapons to me, now would I?"

"True enough."

"You will have to use lethal force tonight buddy, there's enough blips on the satellite image here for me to use a rocket launcher."

"Which reminds me…didn't you conveniently 'forget' to give back that rocket launcher that Captain Argoule gave to you?"

I laughed. Yes, I did forget to give back the M19 SSM rocket launcher that was given to me by the good Captain, and I've never used it. But tonight, I might need it. I strode over to a meter-and-a-half tall cabinet and opened the door. Inside was the aforementioned M19 SSM. With just one spare set of tubes, the heavy weapon was good for four shots and was highly effective at wiping out large groups of infantry. I decided that if worse comes to worse, I would use it. But for now, I would keep it locked up. Glancing at the laptop screen, I noticed that they were within 250 meters from the house.

"Get ready. This is going to be big."

* * *

Outside, the Black Ops troops were steadily making their way towards the seemingly innocent house located at one of the deepest parts of Treeshroud Forest. Magazines were loaded in, the bolts cycled, and they were ready for anything. Anything, except…

BOOM

…the .50 BMG rounds fired from a Barrett M107 sniper rifle.

The first round struck a lone operator, tearing his torso from his legs, unleashing a terrible scene of loose guts and blood. The man was dead even before the round exited his body. The call came in.

"_All units, open fire! Take out any target of opportunity as soon as you see any movement! If Spartan doesn't want to be taken in alive, then kill the bastard!_"

Tracers flew, cutting the night into a fiery storm, although none of the rounds found a target. The .50 BMG rounds, however, kept finding their marks, usually killing two or more operators with one shot. Any rounds that managed to pierce the wooden exterior of the house only met up with a steel barricade, along with yet another wooden interior. Spartan had worked hard to make his house nearly impenetrable just by sandwiching wood and steel together. Once the last round from the Barrett was fired, a less intimidating sound was heard, the unmistakable _crack_ of a M24 sniper rifle. Operator upon operator fell, instantly killed by headshots. It was only after the complete silence from both sniper rifles fell that all the operators had a chance to regroup and reload. None of them had managed to see anything through their thermal goggles as the deadly rifles hit their marks. The moved up once again…

* * *

I heard their footsteps approaching the door. I knew they wouldn't be stupid enough to let a person open the door, so they would use a shaped-charge of C4 to blow it open. But yet here I was, posted right beside the door, waiting for it to open with a PRES active. I didn't have to wait long before the door exploded in a mess of flying wooden shrapnel and metal. I quickly deactivated the shield, lest I give away my position from the shimmering. A barrel peeked through the remnants of the door and I leveled an M9 pistol at the approximate height of where the head would be. Slowly, the body of the operator entered, followed by the main target of opportunity, the head.

"All clear," I heard.

"Not quite," I whispered.

As the person whipped around to face me, I pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot accompanied the body falling to the ground. I ran for a hallway, holstering the M9 pistol and hearing the rush of feet following me. As I reached the hallway, several bullets tore away the paint of the wall. I pulled back the bolt of the G36 and snapped it back, putting a bullet into the chamber.

"Hold fire! Spartan, come out, you're surrounded! There's no way you're getting out of this alive!"

"And don't I know it! You come here, with weapons loaded and expect me to come peacefully? You have no idea what kind of shit I've been through in the past nine and a half years!"

"You think I give two damns about your life? My commander told me to bring you in, dead or alive! I wouldn't think twice about killing you!"

"Then why haven't you?" I asked, risking a peek around the corner. At least eighteen people stood, framed in the doorway. Only one of them had his weapon lowered.

"I wanted to give you a chance to come peacefully after you killed Eagle and Regal, even after you killed half of our unit just now!"

"Aww, how kind of you. Is this the voice of compassion I hear?"

"Don't mock me Spartan! I may have been your friend long ago, but I can easily be your worst enemy!"

I reached for a grenade. Feeling it, I knew it was a plasma grenade. I hefted it with my left hand.

"You, my worst enemy? Ha! I've faced deadlier enemies than you, and I'll prove it!"

I sidearmed the plasma grenade and tossed it, causing it to stick to a surprised soldier.

"What the fuck is this? Get it off, get it off!"

3…2…1…

The grenade detonated. Several screams cut through the immediate silence that followed the explosion. I peeked back around the corner and saw that only a small handful of soldiers survived the initial blast and were now being consumed by the thermal expansion that followed the plasma detonation.

"Urgh…what the fuck was that…?"

"Dunno, but I don't want to get stuck by that…Justin got vaporized by that thing, and he wasn't even the one who got stuck!"

Just then, the internal fire suppression turned on, covering the entire area with foam. I really put out all the stops for my house, just in case something bad happened – but nothing like this. I decided to put the rest of them out of their misery as I rolled an M9 frag to them.

"What's tha - OH SHIT, FRAG!"

"CLEAR THE AR -"

The voice got silenced as the grenade detonated. No more screams pierced the air, and it seemed as though I had won. But unfortunately…

"FIRE!"

The house rocked with the sudden explosion of a high explosive - most likely an RPG. I hurried into my room, almost ripping the door off in order to get at the M19 SSM. Hefting it - and placing the G36 on a strap on my back - I moved as quickly as possible to a nearby window. From there, I could see the heavy specialist - Whiskey - loading another round into his RPG. I activated the 2x scope, sighted on the group that was protecting him, and let fly. With a highly audible _whoosh_, the 102mm HEAT round flew straight and true. The round detonated in the midst of the group, completely obliterating them. The only pieces left of them were falling in either chunks of body parts, or as a fine red mist.

'Infernape, you still around?'

'Yes. I took out some troops who were going around back to flank you. No issues here, but what were those explosions?'

'They used an RPG, and I retaliated with the M19.'

'Heh. They should know better than to tango with one of their best operatives, right -'

'Infernape? Infernape? Dammit!'

I focused my mind, and the world appeared to me in my Aura vision. Usually a sea of blue, it was now punctuated with several red areas. In particular, I saw a group of red holding up a fading blue Aura. I quickly moved over to the area, M19 shouldered, G36 at the ready. I rounded the bend, only to be sent back by a burst of semi-automatic fire.

"You assholes! What did you do to Infernape?"

A mirthless laugh echoed to me. "What do you think we did? We killed him, you simpleton."

A mindless rage took over and I rounded the bend again, G36 barking. Three bodies fell under the onslaught while the rest either took cover, or stood their ground. It was only after five seconds of continuous fire that I noticed that the five that stood their ground were shimmering. The shimmer moved with their left arms, and I realized that they were also equipped with shields.

"Noticed, have you? You should recognize them; you took the prototype five years ago after all. Unfortunately, that prototype was still in its testing phase, and not as powerful as these new units. Spartan, meet the _true_ Ballistic Riot Energy Shield."

I raised the G36 and emptied the drum magazine into it. The rounds simply bounced off and I had to turn back as the rest of the group opened fire.

"Those 5.56 NATO rounds can't help you here, Spartan. Not much can penetrate these shields, and even less can completely drain them in one shot."

'Time to test that theory,' I thought as I sidearmed another plasma grenade. This time, the grenade landed just in front of the five, and they overlapped shields. Three seconds later, the grenade detonated. I took a quick look, and to my dismay, they were still standing.

"Impressive technology! That would have no doubt drained the prototype instantly, but luckily for us, that only drained half of the charge!"

"Then let's see how they handle two more!" I shouted, tossing the last of them around the corner. Twin detonations echoed through the house, and actually melted the painting and glass on the wall opposite to me. Again I looked around the corner, and this time I noted several bodies completely charred beyond recognition.

"Thankfully, our troops are more willing to die than you are, Spartan," a voice mocked me from beyond the cloud of smoke.

'What will it take to kill these guys?' I thought. A thought instantly came to me. Raising the M19, I aimed it around the bend, where it met with several shots. I fired blindly in the general direction of where the shots were coming from, and I was rewarded with a loud _thump_ as the round detonated.

"Ryan, can you hear me? RYAN!"

I let out a loud laugh. "Looks like your shields can't withstand a missile at close range!" I shouted as I reloaded the spent tubes.

"You'll regret that Spartan! When we're done killing you, we're gonna go after your wife and kid! You hear me? I'm personally going to kill your family!"

"Bullshit! You can't even kill me, so how're you going to kill my family?"

A smattering of bullets pattered against the wall I was hiding behind.

"Really? Shooting a wall won't get you anywhere! But what I'm about to do will! I'll send you straight to the Distortion World where you belong!" I quickly aimed the M19 back around the corner, but there weren't any sounds. I had a look around, and there wasn't anyone around - save for the dead and charred bodies. This wasn't a good sign. We were taught that when outgunned, regroup and attack from a different position with better weapons. If all else fails, destroy the building in which the target resides. Either way, you were crippling the enemy. When dealing with a leader or a high-ranking enemy, we were told to capture the target at any cost - save sacrificing your entire platoon, of course. I had never thought that the current Black Ops would still adhere to that kind of training. I started to make my way back down the hallway with a PRES active. I wasn't going to take any chances of a sniper shooting down the hallway where I couldn't see him. No sooner than I had thought this when a round struck the shield. The charge drained to three-quarters charge from that. I was surprised. Not much could instantly drain a quarter charge from any of the versions of the Riot Energy Shields. This had to be the new weapon I've read about. But I thought that Silph Co. still had years to work out the major bugs in the railgun system. I had to get rid of that deadly weapon as soon as possible before it completely collapsed my shields. I raised the M19 as best as I could while still protecting myself, and fired from the hip. The recoil sent me staggering back, but the projectile did its job. The round detonated, and the railgun flew at me, striking the shield before dropping to the floor. I detected motion beyond the dust, and I fired the last missile, then dropped the spent launcher for the railgun. The specs for the device were completely unknown to me, but it had to work like any other weapon…right? By then, half the house was destroyed from the multiple explosions, and I had barely anything left to save inside it.

"Come out and save yourself the pain of dying!"

"Oh sure, say that and kill me painfully anyways! Like I'm going to fall for that bullshit!"

"Fine, if you want it to be that way…"

I raised the railgun and prayed that I would be able to fire the thing. I pulled the trigger, and a blue beam flew out from it, impacting the wall.

"What the fuck? He has the railgun!"

"Damn it! That's our only one!"

"If the commander finds out that he has it…"

"Don't say anything like that! Just kill him and take the gun!"

With that, several grenades flew towards me. I ran as they detonated, shrapnel tearing into my legs. The pain was nearly unbearable, but still I ran. I reached a corner and blindly aimed the railgun back around it and fired. I kept on firing until it overheated, allowing them to toss more grenades. I placed both of my PRES' between me and the explosions, and they drained to near-critical levels. If I didn't recharge them within the next few minutes, I would be left with just the Kevlar vest I had on.

"Hold fire. You're wounded Spartan. You've been wounded earlier, and I know you can't keep this up forever. Just surrender. This is your last chance."

He was right. After the fight with Eagle, I was nearly spent from exhaustion and blood loss. I had no idea how I could turn the tables against someone who has better weapons, hasn't been fighting, been wounded and has me outnumbered. But then I remembered my ace in the hole. I had to get to the detonator before they did. I checked the railgun and noticed that it had cooled off enough to resume firing.

"Surrender? Don't you remember the old Sparta code? Never surrender. Never give up. Kill as many before being taken down. This is their code, and it's mine as well. There's no way in this lifetime or any other that you'll change my mind," I said as I backed into a nearby room. Hopefully this was the one that held the detonator.

"Really? You still hold onto that codec even though you've been out of active service for five years? How sentimental, Spartan, how sentimental indeed. Flush him out. Use H.E. if you have to. I want him at my feet, dead or alive, five minutes ago. GO!"

I turned around and looked at the room. This wasn't the master bedroom as I had hoped. I was on the opposite end of the house and I was running out of options. A quick peek out the door told me that they were preparing to throw high explosive grenades into wherever I was. I wouldn't give them half a chance as I took aim with the railgun. As I fired, one of them barely got a chance to dodge as the round blew a hole the size of a saucer plate in his chest.

"Holy shit…" I whispered.

I quickly adjusted my aim and fired again. This time, the lucky soldier saw the barrel and moved in time. I had to fire repeatedly to make him seek cover as I ran along an adjacent hallway, heading towards the master bedroom.

* * *

Outside, far enough to be away from the battle, yet close enough to see the results, Gardevoir and Rose waited for Scott's say-so to return home. Sure, the house would be a complete mess when they got back, but considering that both of their Psychic powers have dramatically increased in the past few years, Gardevoir was confident that they would be able to return it back to its former glory. But it was not meant to be…

'Gardevoir,' a voice said.

'Scott? What's going on?'

'Take care of Rose.'

'What? Why? What's going on?'

'Lucario will take you in, treat you as family. Go to his place before they find you.'

'No, Scott, please no! You said you were going to be okay!'

* * *

Inside…

I felt a sudden pain in my right leg just as I reached the bedroom door. Looking down, I saw that it had a large hole in it, and it was steadily leaking blood. I had to get to the detonator! I whipped out my M9 pistols and opened fire upon the person who shot me. Both 15-round magazines emptied in a matter of seconds, and the figure fell. I holstered the pistols and made for a dresser. As soon as I got to it, another bolt of pain hit me, this time in my back. I grabbed a slim metal bar that was hidden from view and toppled to the floor. As I turned around, a figure kneeled down to my height.

'I'm sorry Gardevoir.'

"Ah, now see? It was completely futile to attempt to run. We have you completely outnumbered, and we are better armed than you. Why didn't you surrender when you had the chance? Now you have to die."

"Don't you know? Spartan's never die," I said, showing him the detonator, and pressed the button.

* * *

Outside…

'NO!' Gardevoir shouted, both telepathically and audibly as the entire house detonated in a ball of fire. The placement of the seven remaining Nova grenades was perfect. Placed in highly combustible and explosive areas, they did their jobs. Rose cried openly, her father dead, a last act of protection from the evils of mankind. They would not be able to return to this place anymore. Gardevoir wept as well, knowing that what her mate did, it was for the good of the family. She hugged Rose closer to her body and moved off. They would have to take shelter in Lucario's house for the time being, or at least until they could find somewhere else to stay.

As they disappeared into the forest, a single cry echoed through the night.

"DADDY!"

Continued in Chapter Four…

* * *

A/N: The death of Scott has the rest of the family mourning. But now the question arises…did anyone survive the horrific explosion? What will happen to Gardevoir and Rose? Would his last act as a father guarantee their protection?

- UBE Chief


	4. Tragedy Strikes Again

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Chapter Four: Tragedy Strikes Again

* * *

Lucario woke up suddenly, the disturbance in Aura highly noticeable. Nothing could create that kind of disturbance unless it was unnatural or if someone close to him had died. He focused, and his highly tuned Aura sight and hearing kicked in. The sound of fire…the smell of blood…and two figures walking away from it. As he focused even more, he could hear the constant sobbing of the two, and then he knew. Scott, his trainer, his best friend, had died. It was also possible that Infernape had also passed away as well, considering that the two worked as a team, eliminating any threat that was present to the family. But what had caused the fire? Why was the scent of blood so thick? Anything could have caused this, but for now he had to focus on getting Gardevoir and her child here, under his protection.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gardevoir walked slowly through the forest, her powers draining steadily. The death of her mate meant the certain death of her as well. The mating bond between two Psychic-types is so powerful that if one died, the other would follow suit within an hour. She knew this all too well, and she accepted that. Soon, she would see her mate again. But then she would be leaving their child alone, with nobody to guide her. After all, as far as she could sense with her draining powers, nobody had survived the initial blast from the house - or, at least, she hoped. She had to get to the only one left within an hour's walk - Lucario. A rustle in the leaves startled her, and she whirled around, prepared to defend her child with whatever power she had left. But it was only the wind. The little one in her arms struggled, almost desperate enough to attack her own mother in an effort to get back to her non-existent father.

"Shh, little one. We cannot go back. You father did this for us to live."

But Rose didn't hear her. The poor girl could only focus on her father.

"Daddy! Let me go back!"

"No. I have to protect you now. You can't go back. Your father is," she stopped, now uncontrollably crying. She gulped down the lump in her throat and continued. "Your father…is gone. We can't bring him back. Nothing we can do can bring him back." She collapsed to the forest floor, her Psychic powers almost completely drained.

Now Rose realized something was wrong with her mother. Something that she couldn't explain, but whatever it was, it was going to take her away…forever.

"Mommy?"

"I'm…sorry. I knew this would happen, and yet I still pushed." She smiled weakly. "My only hope now is that Lucario will find you, and protect you with his life. I…cannot go on."

"NO! Mommy, don't leave!" Rose was crying harder now. First she lost her father, and now the inevitability of the Psychic mating bond was going to take her mother away too. "Mommy?" Rose shook her mother. No response. "MOMMY!"

Lucario had watched the entire event happen from the bushes. He had listened to how Scott had sacrificed himself to protect his family, only to have his mate die less than an hour later. And now, he had watched Gardevoir die, leaving her child all alone, with nobody to protect her. He knew his duty. He moved out of the brush, scaring Rose. She moved closer to her mother and hugged her.

"Rose? Remember me?"

She nodded.

"I heard everything. I know you don't want to leave your mother, but I can't leave you here either. So please, come with me, and my family will protect you."

She took one last look at her mother, still and unmoving, and let go. Lucario slowly moved close, and gathered up the small figure up in his arms. He knew that by now, his own mate would've noticed the absence of his Aura and would be awake and waiting. He would bury the body in an hour from now, when Rose would most likely be sleeping. As he walked back, he couldn't control the hot tears rolling down his face. His two best friends, dead within an hour of each other.

* * *

A few minutes later, he had arrived at his den, his mate waiting for him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The unthinkable. Scott and Gardevoir are dead."

"No…" tears appeared on her face now, as well. No doubt that his son would be disturbed by the abnormal amount of distressed Aura and would awaken soon.

"Yes. They left their child alone. We have to take care of her as our own."

"Of course. You should let her sleep now. I think Riolu is awake now."

He nodded, and gave Rose to his mate. She would put her to bed with their son, and hopefully he would be able to calm her down. Now for the sad task of burying the body of Gardevoir…

* * *

"Mom?" a sleepy voice asked. "What happened?"

He knew something was unnaturally wrong. Not much would make his parents emit such large amounts of sadness in their Aura.

"Scott and Gardevoir are…are gone."

He shot up from his prone position.

"What?"

Her voice choked up as she spoke. "Their child is all that's left. Comfort her, help her fall asleep. Maybe she'll open up to you."

He understood the gravity of the situation. He nodded, and his mother placed the shivering form of his playmate on the floor and left.

"Rose?"

She jumped, still in shock from her parents passing on.

"Rose, it's me, Riolu. Can you talk to me?"

Instead, she suddenly grabbed him, holding him close. He felt her tears being absorbed into his fur. It was then that she let out a massive burst of sadness that even he couldn't ignore. He cried, trying not to make a sound, trying to be strong, but he couldn't. He howled a terrible howl and held her even closer. Her Aura was out of control. Sadness, despair, loneliness, and even a hint of anger were swirling all around her.

"I - I couldn't do anything! I watched my daddy die from far away and I couldn't do anything!"

He realized that in between sobs, she was opening up to him.

"An - and then I had no choice but to watch mommy die too! Why? Why did those bad people have to take them away?" she dissolved into tears, Riolu completely unable to get another word from her. Five minutes later, she was asleep, completely drained from crying. Riolu decided to keep her close in case she woke up and needed a companion to hold. A minute later, he was asleep, holding Rose by his side, not letting go even in slumber. A pair of eyes turned away from the room, tears very present. Even evolved, she couldn't ignore the anguish and pain behind Rose's Aura. She broke down into tears until her mate came home and comforted her.

* * *

The next day, Riolu and Rose woke up late in each other's embrace.

"Morning Rose. Are you feeling any better?"

She shook her head. There was a rumbling sound and she blushed.

Riolu laughed. "Hungry?"

"…Yes," she said.

He couldn't blame her. Even though she had her supper the night before, her crying must have triggered hunger. He led her out to their table, where an assortment of berries laid.

"Alright, what kind of berry do you want?" he knew her favourite already, but he just wanted her to talk. It worked.

"Riolu, you know what my favourite berry is!"

"I'm sorry, but I forgot. Can you remind me?" anything he said was to get the conversation away from last night's events.

"Oran," she said, a trace of happiness appearing in her Aura. Riolu knew that his methods were working as she was beginning to get back to her old self.

Watching the scene from a hallway, Lucario and his mate smiled. Maybe they would recuperate and leave this day behind.

* * *

But unbeknownst to them, someone _did_ survive the explosion from Scott's Nova grenades and the subsequent detonation of the house. A dark figure, bathed in a light coating of ash, stood up from the wreckage and called in for evac. Minutes later, a light dropship transport picked up the figure and moved off.

"_Has the mission been accomplished?_"

"Affirmative. But casualties have been nearly one-hundred percent. As far as we know, Spartan and his family are dead."

"_Then search the forest until we know for certain that his family is dead. No excuses. You will be redeployed in six hours from now with a squad of hunter/killers. Do you understand?_"

"Yes commander."

"_Good. Report back to me when you have found evidence of their demise._"

* * *

Five years later...

Riolu and Rose were playing in a small lake, trading splashes with one another. Lucario was watching over them like any good father would do, while his mate was getting dinner prepared. Five long years of sorrow and mourning, but yet his son had somehow made the once small Rose happy enough to evolve into a pretty Kirlia. Scott had once confided in him that he had hoped to see his daughter together with his son, completely happy together as a family. Lucario sighed. Even though he couldn't see them now, Scott would've been happy to see them like this.

"Alright you two, it's time to go."

"Aww, but dad, can't we stay just a little while longer?"

"You know your mother; she gets worried if we're not back by nightfall."

"C'mon Riolu, I'll race you to your dad!"

"But you always win!"

Lucario laughed. Even if they're not blood-related, they still act like siblings. And yes, Rose always did win - mainly due to her teleporting all the way here instead of running like Riolu. Kids will be kids, after all, even though it may be for a short while. Suddenly, something caught his attention. The unmistakable scent of smoke and fire was coming from the direction of the den. As he bolted off, Riolu noticed this, and steered Rose away.

"Riolu? What's wrong?"

"Dad's going to investigate something. I don't want you to be near anything that might be dangerous."

A sudden flash of an old nightmare, one that caused the death of her parents sprang forth. But it wasn't of that night. She couldn't explain it, but it had something to do with…

"Riolu! Something terrible is going to happen to your dad!"

"What? How do you know?"

"I don't know. But we have to tell your dad before -"

A loud roar echoed through the clearing.

"Dad!" he exclaimed as he ran off into the brush.

"Riolu, wait!" she said, as she ran after him. No matter what, she was going to protect the one she had fallen in love with, ever since he had comforted her on that terrible night.

* * *

Riolu froze. He couldn't understand. Who were these people and what have they done? His home was on fire, and his father was trying to fight off the men who stood there with silvery bars. They had already used those bars on his dad, making large spots of blood appear on his blue fur, staining it purple. His dad had sensed him and told him to stay back through telepathy. He heard a rustle and Rose appeared beside him, completely out of breath. She didn't need to ask what was going on, as she could read his mind like a book – whatever that was. She only looked shocked as his dad tried and failed to make an Aura Sphere appear in his hands. Where was his mom though? As a pair, they were an unstoppable force, beating back anything who tried to attack us - just like Scott would have done. It was only then that he realized that those people set his home on fire - with his mother still inside.

"No, Riolu!" Rose said, her slender hand upon his shoulder.

"I can't just stand here and do nothing! They set my home on fire! And mom's still inside!"

He turned to look at her, fire burning within his eyes, until he noticed that there were tears in hers.

"Don't sacrifice yourself Riolu. I know you want to help your family, but we're too young to be of any help. You understand, right?"

The fire in his eyes went out, replaced with despair.

"But dad…"

"He'll be able to take care of himself," she said. This, however, was a lie. She had seen those kinds of weapons before, several years ago. Her father had shown them to her when she could understand what they were and the purpose behind them.

* * *

*Flashback*

"Rose, do you know what this is?" he asked, showing her a small silver L-shaped object. She shook her head, and reached for it. He quickly moved it away from her. "This isn't a toy, Rose. This is a very dangerous thing. Humans use it to hurt each other as well as Pokemon."

'Why do you have one Daddy?'

"I use them to protect things that I care about. I will use this to protect you and your mother, no matter the cost to myself. But you must promise me one thing."

'What, Daddy?'

"Promise me that if you ever see another human holding something like this, run. Run for your life, because the people that hold these things will harm you," he stopped, a smile starting to grow on his face. "And I don't want anything to harm my little silver angel."

*End Flashback*

* * *

Her heart warmed at the memory of her father, but that was soon squelched by the fact that Riolu's parents were doomed. She had to hide this from her emotions so that he couldn't sense them. She grabbed his paw and they set off. Suddenly, a loud gunshot broke the silence of the forest, and now she knew that they were now completely alone in the world.

Continued in Chapter Five…

* * *

A/N: First Scott, then his mate. And yet for five years Riolu took care of Rose. Now a Kirlia, she must set off with her best friend - who just had both his parents killed as well - into the world.

- UBE Chief


	5. A Glimmer of Hope

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Chapter Five: A Glimmer of Hope

* * *

They had been walking for days, and fatigue and hunger were setting in. They had to eat something more nutritious than the berries that they found, or they would perish. They haven't found any Pokemon to help them and they were starting to think of killing to eat.

"I wouldn't feel right killing a Pokemon to survive."

"But others do that all the time."

"I know, but still…"

"We have to eat something Rose, or we're going to die."

She looked uncertain, but then she agreed. A few minutes later, they had found an injured Pidgey hopping around, unable to take flight. They had to take it out fast, or it would attract unwanted attention.

"What should we do?"

"Umm…normally my dad would just sprint in and kill it, but considering that we're too weak, I think you have to use Imprison on it while I go in and snap its neck."

Rose looked scared, but she knew that they had no choice. Her eyes glowed blue, and the Pidgey froze. Riolu then ran up to it, and with one swift movement, broke the bird's neck. The audible snap made Rose cry and she fell to her knees. Riolu brought the dead Pidgey to a nearby river and went back for Rose. She was still on the forest floor, crying.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, but we had no choice. We're too weak to even protect ourselves and you know that."

She nodded and they moved back to the river where - to their dismay - their meal-to-be was gone. In its place, however was a strangely coloured rock. Although Riolu was fuming about what had happened, Rose was drawn to the strange rock. She picked it up and suddenly -

_"Rose."_

She gasped, and dropped the rock. That voice - that familiar voice. Could it be? Riolu had noticed her gasp, and walked over to her side.

"What? Did you get hurt?"

"No, I - I think something called out to me from that rock!"

He picked it up. "I'm not sensing anything from the rock." He gave it back to her. Again, the same thing happened.

"_Rose__, if you can hear me, speak to me."_

She dropped the rock again. But this time, she knew who that voice belonged to.

"Rose?"

"It – it's my dad."

"What? A random rock appears and speaks to you, and it turns out it's your dad?"

She picked up the rock and focused her Psychic powers into it. Suddenly, the rock brightened and a small image projected from it.

"Dad?"

_"Rose? Oh my. You've grown up!"_

Tears of joy were now forming at the edges of her eyes. "Dad!"

_"Hush now, my beautiful daughter. It seems as though I was right in the bond that you currently share with Riolu. I was completely prepared for my death, and I left several of these rocks for you to find. These rocks are strange in appearance, yes, and can only be activated with your own Aura. No other Pokemon can activate these rocks except for you."_

"That explains why it was left here in exchange four our meal," Riolu said bitterly.

The small figure of Scott laughed. "_I'm sorry about that. You see, I previously asked one of my old friends to keep a high watch on you. In the event that I died, she was supposed to keep you safe until you were old enough."_

"Who, my mom?" Riolu asked.

_"No. Her name is Staraptor and she's as quick as lightning - which is no doubt why you couldn't see her in the short amount of time that she took your 'meal' and replaced it with this stone."_

"But dad, how are you talking to us? Aren't you dead?"

"_Ah, but that's the beauty of it. I am not truly dead; neither is your mother, or Riolu's parents. We are simply absorbed back into the surrounding Aura. I learned this when Arceus revived me for the first time - but that's a story I can tell from a different stone. This stone, however, was only meant for instructing you on how to get to a storage bunker not too far from here. I built it so many years ago in the event that the house got destroyed, and I had hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this. There are many more stones there for you to receive instructions on how to survive, along with several Technical Machines for the pair of you to learn new moves. I am sorry,"_ the figure said, starting to dissolve into static, "_but my time is up from this stone. Find the bunker __Rose__, use your powers to gain the information from this stone. And remember, I love you."_ The figure disappeared and Rose broke into tears. Finally, a sign for survival and a glimmer of hope.

"I never guessed that your dad was this advanced in his Psychic powers to do this," Riolu said.

"I don't think my dad let anyone know the extent of his powers - with the exception of my mom."

Her eyes glowed blue again, and she delved into the depths of the stone. Instructions and directions on how to get to the cleverly hidden bunker immediately filled her mind.

"I know where it is. Follow me."

* * *

Half an hour later - and several more references to the stone - they found themselves at the base of a large hill.

"Is this the place?" Riolu asked.

"I'm sure. But how do we get in?"

"Look! Another stone!"

Rose went over to the stone and picked it up. Immediately, the stone glowed, and the small figure of Scott appeared.

"_Ah, good. Finding this stone meant that you've arrived. Entering the bunker is a small matter of skill and patience. The main reason behind this is because it requires two to open the door."_

"Two? You mean me and Riolu?"

"_Of course! I didn't build this bunker by myself after all - despite me saying in the other stone that I built it several years ago. Your mother helped me in creating the security system so that only two beings very different from each other, but who share the same feelings towards each other would be able to open the door. Your mother was a Gardevoir, a very lovely Pokemon, but I was a human. You, my daughter, are a Kirlia, and your friend is a Riolu. Two very different species, but the two of you share a bond that is not so different from ours."_

Rose blushed and tried to hide it from Riolu. The little figure of Scott laughed.

"_Ah, you remind me so much of your mother. The red in her blush brought out her eyes, and so does yours. Now, onto opening the door. You must proclaim your affections to one another while touching a small indentation in the side of the hill."_

Rose blushed even harder at that thought, and she saw Riolu doing the same, turning small patches of his fur a light purple. The figure of Scott burst out in laughter, loud and warming.

"_I swear, the pair of you were made for each other. But you must open the door before this stone runs out of power."_

The two made their way over to the hill, and did notice a small indent in the side of the hill. They placed their hands on the dent.

"Riolu, I – I…"

"I love you."

She froze, almost dropping the stone.

"W - what?"

"I said I love you. I always have, and I always will."

"Oh Riolu, I love you too!" she said, pulling him into a hug.

"_Hrmmpfh!"_

"Oh! Sorry dad." She didn't realize that she was squishing the stone between their bodies. She took the stone out. "You were saying?"

"_The door, you two lovebirds, the door!"_

They looked at the hill and noticed a gap in the earth. A doorway had opened for them and they rushed in. the door immediately closed behind them, throwing the hallway beyond into pitch black. The only source of light was the small figure of Scott.

"_Oh, right. I almost forgot. The lights."_ The figure clapped his hands, and the cavern illuminated to show them a beautifully decorated interior.

"Oh wow…"

"It's so pretty!"

"_This bunker was supposed to be our safe house, but we decided against it. It's almost like a personal secret hideaway from the world. Nothing can penetrate this hill and nothing can shake it down. There are two bedrooms, two washrooms, a freezer and a refrigerator."_

"Dad, what's that?"

"_What, a fridge? That's where humans store any food that they don't want to spoil. The freezer is for long-term storage of food. But don't go crazy, we only stored enough provisions to last three months."_

"I'm sorry, I didn't follow. I only heard up to the point of food. Where's the stash?"

"Riolu! Let my dad explain!"

Riolu sheepishly looked down, and Scott continued.

"_I know you're hungry, so I'll get down to it. The kitchen is off to your right, and the living quarters are off to your left. I have to go for now, but please call on me through this stone if you have any questions."_

"Thanks dad. I love you."

"_And I will always love you my dear."_ In a lower voice, he said; "_Make sure you look after Riolu. His heart and mind may be on you, but his hunger might get the best of him."_

Rose laughed. "I understand dad. Bye."

With that, the little figure disappeared.

"Can we eat now?" Riolu asked, while his stomach growled audibly.

* * *

Later that night, Rose was in her own room, Riolu using the other.

'My dad was right with so many things,' she thought. 'We do care for each other, and we also admitted our love! I only hope that we could sleep together, but that would be uncomfortable. I mean, we're so young! We couldn't do something that grown-ups would do…' She drifted off into her own thoughts for awhile before falling asleep.

In the other room, Riolu was fighting a losing battle with his own thoughts.

'I can't believe I blurted out that I love her right then and there! I could've said I liked her, but I said I love her! But then, she said she loved me too…maybe, just maybe, we could stay like this for awhile…' Before he could get his thoughts in order, he fell asleep, wishing Rose was by his side.

* * *

In a void, Scott watched the two battling with their emotions.

"You know, they're like us when we first admitted our feelings to each other."

'Yes, but you weren't that brazen with admitting it.'

He laughed. "That may be true, but it doesn't mean that they can't be kids for just a little while longer."

The silvery figure held Scott in a light embrace.

"If only we could be there now…we could have watched our daughter grow up and evolve."

'She didn't need us, Scott, she needed the one she loved more than the both of us combined.'

"Yes, and I can only hope that they're prepared for the troubles to come."

Continued in Chapter Six…

* * *

A/N: Almost forced to eat something they killed, Rose and Riolu found out that they're not so alone in this world as Scott appears to his daughter from a special stone that only she can use. But what troubles lay ahead? And will this bond between the two turn into something more?

- UBE Chief


	6. An Unwanted Visitor

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Chapter Six: An Unwanted Visitor

* * *

Rose flew back, reeling from the powerful attack. They were sparring, a technique that would help them get stronger. Even though she had the type advantage, Riolu was no pushover when it came to physical attacks. Although they were young, they had to learn moves almost beyond their age before moving on.

"What was that Riolu?"

"A Force Palm. Dad taught me that one a few months back, and I've been itching to practice with it."

"You're not the only one who's itching to get some pent-up energy out," she said, a purple light starting to envelop her.

'Oh no,' was all he got to think before he was blasted back with a powerful Psybeam. He flew backwards into a tree, making a loud _crack_. Rose ran over, afraid that she hurt him.

"Riolu! Are you alright?"

"Never let your guard down," he said.

"What?"

Before she even knew what happened, she was sent back again, this time with a completely different move. This one hurt badly, and she knew it wasn't a physical move. She struggled to get up from the floor, and Riolu made his way over.

"Rose! I'm sorry; I think I overpowered that one."

"Ow…what'd you hit me with?"

"Dark Pulse. Mom said that if I was ever cornered by a powerful Psychic-type, I should use this move. But I think I used too much power for our sparring."

"I think so too," she replied, noticing a bruise forming on her leg.

A rustle from a nearby bush set them on edge.

"Who's there?" Riolu shouted, moving in front of Rose.

Instead of a reply, a loud sound responded. Riolu fell back, unsure of what hit him. A large spot was creeping across his chest, staining his fur purple.

"Riolu!" Rose shouted, moving to his side. Before she got there however, the loud sound cut through the air again, something nicking her side. A black-clad human walked out of the brush, an L-shaped object in its hand. A burst of rage shot through her, and she focused all of her Psychic energy in her hands, almost instinctively moving them in a slicing motion. The human's hand fell off, along with the object. Rose moved quickly, scooping up both Riolu and the weapon. She barely had the faintest idea on what she was doing, but she pointed the weapon at the human anyways.

"You don't know how to use that, do you?" the deep voice said.

In reality, she knew how to operate it, but she didn't know what would happen. She moved the slide back a notch with her Psychic powers, noting a cylindrical object within the chamber of the weapon.

"I won't let you harm him!"

"I already have. What, is the little mutt your boyfriend?"

"Rose …" Riolu said faintly.

The human moved closer, unsheathing a silver blade.

"Not one step closer!"

"Or you'll what, shoot me?" the human laughed.

Tears were streaming down her face. The human laughed again.

"You see? You can't even kill me, even though I tried to kill the pair of you."

"I - I'll kill you!"

"Bullshit. Oh well, I suppose I should end you now before I bleed out." The human moved, and Rose increased the pressure on the trigger. She hoped that whatever this does, it'd stop this human from harming her love. As the blade drew close, she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. A resounding _bang_ echoed through the forest. She opened her eyes and what she saw almost made her throw up. She had unintentionally shot the human in the head and it had spewed a massive mess of gore and bone all over the area.

"Rose …" Riolu's voice was fading away.

"RIOLU! Speak to me! Riolu!"

"Not so loud Rose, I'm trying to sleep here…"

"NO! Don't fall asleep! Stay awake for me Riolu, please!"

Suddenly, a figure appeared, not as a small hologram from a stone, but solid nonetheless.

_"Rose, let me carry him. You're injured too, and you can't move him without hurting him some more."_

"Dad?"

"_I'll talk to you about how I'm doing this later. Right now,"_ he started, picking up the small form of Riolu, "_we have to get him inside."_

* * *

Inside the bunker, the form of Scott had removed the bullet from Riolu, bandaged him up, and was now looking over his daughter.

"_You're lucky; it's only a graze. A few inches to the right and it might've hit a vital organ,"_ he said, wrapping a dressing over her wound.

Another form materialized from thin air. It moved over to Rose and embraced her.

"Mom?"

'_Yes, my child. I was so worried about you for the past five years._'

_"You shouldn't worry so much Gardevoir, with Riolu as her 'partner', not much can harm them."_

'_Not much, except for the weapons of humans._'

_"I didn't foresee this happening so soon. I thought that they would have at least another five years before they had to confront another human."_

"Dad? What do you mean by that?"

He sighed. "_Rose__, you have to know this. Those people who attacked you were part of my old unit, the Black Ops of Sinnoh. We were trained to take out high-value targets at any cost. Now they have turned on us and the results were…"_

A moment passed as they remembered that terrible night five years ago.

_"Needless to say, they are very effective at hunting down anything, given enough time. But now, it seems as though that their tracking skills have improved exponentially. From a few years to a few days, this is an unprecedented event. We will look after you both while you heal. After your wounds have fully healed, we will train. Your mother will teach you everything she knows about her Psychic powers, and I will teach Riolu everything I know about close-quarters combat."_

"But mom, dad, how _are_ you communicating to me without the use of the stones?"

'_It's very complicated. We use our own residual Psychic powers in order to form these temporary bodies. The process is incomplete, however, and they will deteriorate as time goes by. If we use too much of our residual powers, we will be effectively and entirely absorbed into nature's Aura, never to return._'

_"And as for the stones, they are simple communication devices. They use up a miniscule amount of Psychic and Aura in the surrounding area, as you are providing it with most of the power."_

'_But for now, you need to rest. Sleep now, and we'll see you in the morning._'

"But mom -"

The eyes of the form of Gardevoir glowed blue, and Rose immediately fell asleep.

"_Did you have to use Hypnosis?"_

'_She's like me; she'll keep bothering her parents until her questions get answered._'

_"You were like that? Good Arceus, I'm glad I never met you when you were that young."_

They laughed and disappeared.

* * *

The next morning, Rose woke up groggily, and as she got up, pain shot up her side.

"Ow…what happened?"

She looked down at her side, saw the bandage, and recalled everything that had happened the day before.

"Oh no, Riolu!"

Ignoring her pain, she got up and went to the next room where Riolu was still sleeping. Heavy bandages covered his upper body, and several bags were nearby, filled with bloodstained bandages. She went over and gripped his arm and put her head gently on the bandages. Through the thick wadding, she could hear his heart beating. Still feeling sleepy, she submitted to the blissful void of sleep, content that her Riolu was still alive.

A few hours later, she awoke again. Looking up, she noticed that Riolu was also awake. Sitting up suddenly - and clutching her side - she blushed.

"How long were you awake?"

He blushed as well. "Long enough to realize that you want to sleep by me, even though I'm hurt."

"I'm happy that you're alright Riolu. I thought…I thought that I lost you."

He smiled, and put an arm around her shoulders as best as he could.

"I'm glad that I'm alive too, or I'd never get the chance to see your face again."

"You mean that?"

"Of course I do. I said I loved you first, didn't I?"

She leaned close and kissed him. After a few seconds, she realized what she was doing and broke the link between them. Riolu looked dazed.

"Riolu, I - I'm sorry. I didn -"

He broke her off with his own kiss. This time, the kiss seemed to last forever and no time at all. This was bliss. This was better than painkillers. This was -

A noise from outside the door jolted them from their kiss.

'_Sorry, did I intrude on something?_'

"MOM!"

_"Now dear, you know better than to enter a room without knocking. For all you knew, they could've been engaged in other things."_

"DAD!"

_"Oh, whoops. I shouldn't be such a hypocrite. Come Gardevoir; let's leave these two lovebirds by themselves for awhile."_

They both sighed. The moment was gone. They would have to wait for another chance like this - but without annoying parents to kill the mood.

* * *

In the kitchen, Scott and Gardevoir were having a discussion.

'_Engaged in other things? What on earth possessed you to say such a thing?_'

"_Hey, they've known each other longer than us when we first coupled, remember? At least I didn't say _what_ other things they could be engaged in, right?"_

She sighed. '_Fine. Just don't ruin their young minds with your dirty thoughts._'

"_Says the Gardevoir who decided to be frisky the last two times we did it."_

'_Oh shut up,_' she said, blushing.

"_I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You're so beautiful when you blush."_

'_Shut up and kiss me,_' she said, smiling.

As they locked lips, a set of eyes quickly disappeared around a corner. Although the kissing didn't gross her out, Rose was wondering what her parents were talking about. Other things? Being frisky? Something told her that she would find out when it was time for her to find out. But for the time being, she would stay with Riolu until his wounds healed.

Continued in Chapter Seven…

* * *

A/N: A near-miss tragedy almost stole Riolu away from Rose. But as destiny saved his life, destiny will decide what will happen to the new couple. But how many times will the Black Ops attempt to kill them?

- UBE Chief


	7. Training

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo, Game Freak and its affiliates do.

Chapter Seven: Training

* * *

It was time to train the two young Pokemon. Even though their wounds had not fully healed, there was no time to waste as increasing reports from Staraptor indicated that there were large groups of humans combing the forest for them. Gardevoir had taken their daughter for intense Psychic training and he had taken Riolu for some basic close-combat maneuvers and attacks. Of course he couldn't teach the little Fighting-type any Pokemon moves, but he could teach him things only a human would know.

"_Now Riolu, what I'm about to teach you is used by the Black Ops as well. Knowing their moves can and will give you an upper hand depending on the situation you're in."_

"Alright, what's first?" he seemed okay enough to be taught - even though he was almost killed a few days prior.

"_First, you have to defeat me in combat. You may use whatever moves necessary to take me down, but be warned, I was the Black Ops top soldier in hand-to-hand combat."_

Riolu nodded. He understood that if he could beat Scott at his own game, then it might be possible to beat the rest.

"_Ready? Begin!"_

With that, the two leapt at each other, and the training begun.

* * *

In a separate clearing, Gardevoir was teaching her daughter on how to perfectly manipulate the surroundings around her. Unfortunately, both of them were slightly distracted by their thoughts of their significant others.

Gardevoir was wondering how Scott would be able to train Riolu, while Rose was hoping that her father wouldn't push Riolu too hard. Despite the fact that both of them had to concentrate, it was difficult with these thoughts - and more - on their minds. A loud _bang_ snapped them out of it.

'_Scott! What are you doing?_'

"_Getting up from the floor. Riolu's no pushover. And here I was using a quarter of my strength. Looks like I have to push harder for Riolu to not beat me!"_

"Dad! Don't hurt him!"

"_You shouldn't be worried about him when he's facing me. You should be worried about me! With all his potential - oomph - he could beat me even if I was at full strength - ow!"_

Gardevoir winced. '_Your father may have some good intentions, but sometimes he gets in over his head with these battles…_' she sighed. '_Now we have to work hard if we want to get in as much training as those two. Focus your power on that stump over there and picture it floating…_'

A few hours later, another _bang_ echoed through the forest. This time, it was from both areas of training.

At one clearing, both Scott and Riolu were dusting themselves off from the ground after both of them hit trees opposite from each other.

"_Nice one Riolu. I would have never expected a Dark Pulse from you. It's a good decision considering I'm now part Psychic."_

"Same goes for you old-timer. But I'm sorry to say that your hits are getting weaker while mine are getting more powerful."

Scott smiled. "_Old-timer, huh? Don't underestimate me Riolu. Nobody, not even Gardevoir, have ever seen my full and unrestricted power. And as for my strikes, well, let's just say I was preparing for the main course."_ With that, a dark blue energy started swirling around his body and began to accumulate in his hands.

"Aura Sphere? I thought you said you were part Psychic? That's a Fighting-type move!"

"_Like I said, don't underestimate me. Try and dodge whatever I throw at you, young Riolu, because the rest of the Black Ops will have weapons that can fire much faster than this. Prepare yourself!"_

As Riolu ran, Gardevoir was trying to dodge her daughter's well-aimed Psybeams. Some almost hit her, but she was using Reflect and Barrier at the last possible moments to deflect them.

"C'mon mom, I know you can move faster than that!"

'_You shouldn't be so quick to misjudge your opponent like that Rose. They can easily overwhelm you_ -' she disappeared '- _in an instant,_' she said, reappearing behind her.

As Rose spun around to face her mother, she blasted her daughter back with a half-powered Thunderbolt.

"Electric-type moves? I didn't know we could learn that."

'_Like I said Rose, opponents can overwhelm you with things that you don't know about. Like for instance_ -' she disappeared again, reappearing behind Rose again, this time blasting her back with a Dark Pulse.

"Dark Pulse?"

'_Yes. Many Psychic-types can learn a variety of moves that are not naturally learned. You father used Technical Machines to teach me the two moves I have just used on you._'

"TM's? Aren't those ridiculously expensive and rare?"

Gardevoir laughed. '_Well, over the eight years that I travelled with your father before we were thrown into events we can talk about later, he searched long and hard for items that could increase our power. TM's were some of those items._'

Before Gardevoir knew it, she was thrown on her back as an unexpected Psybeam found its mark.

"Riolu taught me that one. Never let your guard down."

Gardevoir laughed and couldn't stop. Not only was her daughter a Psychic-type, but she was learning Fighting-type tactics from the only one that could ever possibly teach her. It was ridiculously funny to the point of insanity as most Psychic-types dominated Fighting-types before they could react. But now, her daughter was being taught by a Fighting-type!

* * *

By nightfall, both teams were exhausted. But only one team was still fighting it out. Scott was getting strained as Riolu was showing no signs of stopping his barrage of weak but rapidly-fired Aura Spheres. Every once in a while, Riolu would jump in close and unleash a Dark Pulse. Gardevoir and Rose had both come over and watch as the two males tried to overpower the other.

"What's it going to take to beat you?" Riolu shouted.

"_More than what you're dishing out!"_ Scott replied.

'Time for the finisher then,' Riolu thought. He gathered up all of his energy and channeled it into his paws. He then collected all the dark energy he could muster and added it to the steadily growing sphere forming in his paws.

"_What's that?"_

"This? This is something I've wanted to test out on you ever since lunchtime. This is my special and unique move, the Dark Sphere!"

"_Dark Sphere…?"_

He barely got a chance to move as Riolu fired off the large sphere of Aura and Dark energy. The explosion from the move sent Scott tumbling end over end into the forest, where a loud _thump_ was heard.

'_Scott!_'

"Dad?"

"_Ow…"_

A sudden burst of static came from the forest.

"DAD?"

"_In here,"_ came a weak voice.

All of them looked around and could see nothing. Then Rose noticed a stone at her feet. She picked it up and focused some of her power into it. The small form of Scott appeared.

"_Looks like you won Riolu, congratulations."_

Riolu looked at Scott dumbfounded.

"_You won! I'm not mad or anything, in fact, I'm astonished! Not many people or Pokemon are able to defeat me."_

'_Or kill you,_' Gardevoir reminded him.

"_That too. In any case, it wouldn't be too far off to say that your father would be very proud of you. Completely beating his best friend in a fight, now that's something to tell your kids about."_

'_Don't give him any ideas Scott,_' Gardevoir warned.

"_I'm not intoning anything. Anyways, how was your training?"_

"It ended up in a draw. We both got tired after this long, so we decided to stop…unlike you, dad."

Gardevoir smiled. '_She's very advanced for her age. I'm so proud of you Rose._'

"_Alright then, I think it's time for the two of you to eat before getting to bed. Both of you have worked hard. And I'm proud of you too Rose, being able to force your mother into a stand - oomph!"_

Gardevoir had "accidentally" knocked the stone from Rose's grasp and onto the forest floor. The figure of Scott disappeared as it was taken away from Rose's Psychic energy.

"_Sore loser,"_ Scott's voice said.

'_Draw!_'

"_Whatever."_

Gardevoir's eyes glowed blue and the little rock was sent flying into the forest.

* * *

Later that night inside the bunker, Rose and Riolu were congratulating each other on the day's progress. But something else was starting to cloud their thoughts…the thought of being a family once again. Considering that both of their parents had died, they wanted to stay with each other forever. Unconsciously, they began to move closer to each other…

"Riolu?"

"Yes Rose?"

"Do you think that our parents wanted us to be together?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I want us to be together."

"I feel the same way," Riolu whispered, leaning in closer.

As they kissed, something else was growing in their minds. Something almost - unnatural, but natural at the same time. Suddenly, Rose felt something hard pressing against her leg.

"Riolu?"

He yelped, and quickly moved away from her, blushing furiously as he turned his back on her.

"Riolu?" Rose asked again, moving to his side.

"Don't look. I - I'm embarrassed."

She noticed that he was covering his waist with his paws, obviously trying to hide something from her. Naturally, she was curious as to what he could be hiding from her and be embarrassed about it.

"Riolu…" she said, gently trying to lift a paw away from his waist. He still wouldn't move his paw from that area.

"If I have to force you, I will!"

"Aww, Rose, it's not that I don't want to show you, it's just that I don't think we're ready yet."

Rose softened her tone. "But Riolu, there shouldn't be anything being hidden between us. Let me see."

He sighed, defeated. He couldn't deny her any more than he could love her. Sooner or later, they would be spending a lot of time together, and what he was hiding would become the basis of it all. He moved his paws, finally showing her his hardened member.

She moved close, intrigued. A voice in the back of her mind said not to touch it - not yet for now, but she extended a hand and placed her palm against the warm member anyways. It twitched, and she gasped then moved her hand away from it.

"Riolu, did I…?"

"I'm sorry Rose, but our kissing made me…like this."

Seeing him like this made her feel slightly flustered, and a noticeable wetness was starting to grow between her legs. She blushed, and moved herself away. Riolu noticed this, and he knew that she was also getting turned on by this moment. His father had told him about the Pidgey and the Beedrills when he had mentioned his - issues to him. He doubted that Rose had received the same talk from either her parents or his.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rose was looking over Riolu's emotions. They were all in a mess, trying to dominate each other in a mad rush of love, lust, embarrassment, acceptance and others that she couldn't explain. Even this was turning her on even more, as she thought that Riolu was being absolutely cute trying to restrain himself. Even the voice in the back of her mind was saying no to what her love-addled thoughts were going through. But she didn't have the restraining will that Riolu had. She had to do something or they might never get over this awkward moment.

"Riolu," she said, breaking the silence.

He looked up, his features still marred by conflicting emotions.

"Let me help you."

"Rose?" he said, shocked.

She moved closer, going onto all fours as she approached. He crawled backwards, trying to move away from her, bumping into a corner along the way. He was trapped and she knew it.

"Rose, what are you doing?"

"I'm doing something that we both want," she replied.

"B-but -" he was cut off as her eyes glowed blue and he froze.

"Riolu, this is for us, even though you're trying not to let this happen. I can't explain it, but it's making me want you more."

Even though he couldn't speak audibly anymore, he still had his Aura speech. 'Rose! Don't do this!'

"Silly boy, I can read your mind, remember? You've dreamt of me. You've done things with yourself with me in your mind. You want this as much as I do."

He couldn't resist. She was right. Although they were approaching adulthood, they were almost prepared to go with the flow of nature before they reached their final evolutions. All species of Pokemon normally frowned upon such an act, but there were a few who ignored them. He couldn't stop her from doing what they knew what was right in their minds.

* * *

Rose could sense the submission in his mind. She released her hold on him and moved ever closer to his still erect member. She was almost soaking through the light fabric that clung to her body and almost disintegrated it before she realized that it was not the time. Not yet. When they evolved, they would couple. But right now, it was forbidden. But even the thought of doing something forbidden excited her. After all, when her parents coupled, they were doing something even more forbidden than this.

'Screw it,' she thought. 'Arceus can damn me later for what I'm about to do, but I don't care.'

She positioned herself above Riolu and lowered her head to his member. There was a clear liquid already appearing on it. She glanced up and noticed that Riolu had his eyes tightly closed, and she giggled.

* * *

The reason behind Riolu closing his eyes was because he didn't want to see what Rose had in store for him. But when she let out a giggle, he couldn't help but take a peek at what she was doing. As soon as he did, however, she noticed and immediately took his member and put in her mouth. The wetness and the warmth were almost overpowering his will and he almost released inside of her mouth.

He gasped. "Damn Rose, I didn't know you wanted this!"

Although she couldn't talk audibly, she could still project her thoughts.

'There's more than this I want, and soon we'll be enjoying it.'

He knew what that was, and although he didn't want to couple when they weren't fully evolved, he knew better than to deny his love what she wanted. After all, he did envision this happening to him in the wettest of dreams. It was then that she began. Moving her head up and down, she allowed her tongue to wrap around him. It seemed as though she knew exactly what he wanted from her, and he enjoyed every second of it. Every second he spent inside her embrace, the closer he came to release. Soon, he couldn't hold back any longer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rose was steadily fingering herself through the light fabric of her clothes as she brought herself close to climax while simultaneously pleasuring Riolu. She knew that he was approaching his limit and soon he will be unyielding to her. She smiled inwardly at that thought and quickened her pace.

"R- Rose," Riolu gasped. He couldn't hold back. He had to release. There was no other alternative. With one final movement of Rose's head, he climaxed inside of her mouth.

She was surprised at how much liquid poured out of him, and she did her best to suck up all of it, but some managed to spill out of her mouth. She finally withdrew from his body, still holding whatever liquids she could in her cheeks. Riolu looked up and saw her cheeks puffed out, he guessed the rest. With some strain, she swallowed the large amount and licked the residue off her face.

She giggled. "Well Riolu, that was fun."

"More than you think Rose," he replied.

Their eyes locked, and they both knew that they weren't going anywhere without finishing the job. As Riolu's member hardened again, Rose disintegrated her clothes and positioned herself above him. Riolu couldn't really accept that they were going to do the deed at this evolution, but he put that thought away. All he could currently think of was his beautiful Rose showing her body to him. This was more erotic than their actions earlier. This was going to be more pleasurable and exciting than what his dreams showed him. This was going to be better, much better than his solo actions. As her body lowered, he tried to position himself as best as he could under her. As their aching areas touched, they locked eyes again, and they knew there was no stopping now. He slid in, slowly, almost wanting to break his will and just go in, but he knew this was meant to be special.

For Rose, the primary pleasure was overwhelming. Due to her own pleasuring actions earlier, she was almost ready to climax, but then his member reached her hymen. That broke her concentration enough to realize that it was now or never.

"Rose, should I?"

"Please Riolu, I want you completely inside of me. I want you to fill me. Fill me with your seed!"

Riolu placed his paws on her hips and gently lowered her more onto his member. Suddenly, he broke through, and Rose let out a cry. He stopped moving and embraced her.

* * *

For Rose, the pleasure was immediately replaced by pain. Pain she hand never experienced before besides being shot by that human. But even that had no bar against what she was experiencing. Tears streamed down her face as Riolu embraced her and attempted to take away her pain.

For Riolu, the pain she was emitting was just as bad - if not worse - than when she came to his home after her parents had died. If he was only a Psychic-type, he could absorb her pain into his body. Unfortunately the best he could do was try and ease her pain with his body.

After about a minute, Rose spoke.

"Riolu, I think I'm ready."

"I won't hurt you?"

"No."

As he let go of her, he repositioned himself so that he could lower her himself. It was then that he noticed a slight red trickle coming from her. He promised himself that he would go slowly for her, no matter what, until she was completely ready. He moved her body again, and she whimpered. But she nodded to let him know she was handling the pain. He continued to move her until he was completely inside of her. She gasped, and started to move herself. For the pair of them, the pleasure was starting to eliminate their doubts and pain.

* * *

Rose was in heaven. Just a few minutes ago she was in immeasurable pain, but now that pain was replaced with ecstasy. She moved her body until she could feel the tip of Riolu's member starting to emerge and lowered herself back down with a wet _smack_. Both of them gasped at this, and they started to move with renewed energy.

* * *

Riolu was out of his mind. He wasn't prepared for this kind of bliss when they coupled, and he wanted to make the moment last forever but at the same time he wanted to finish the job. But with the increasingly louder _smacks_ that their bodies produced and his degrading mental will, he just let nature take its course and allowed himself to be swept along.

It was only a short while after this that both of them felt the approach of simultaneous release. They moved with renewed vigor and with one final thrust, Riolu climaxed inside of his lover as she climaxed on his member.

Rose collapsed onto Riolu, exhausted.

"That was more tiring than unleashing Dark Sphere," Riolu panted.

"Really? I think that you should practice more with that move then Riolu, you might gain more stamina for our activities," Rose joked.

Riolu moved his head closer and growled into her ear. "Don't get me started again, we might not have enough energy for training tomorrow."

"Then let's sleep. I'm feeling pretty tired from all this action," she replied.

"Hell, I'm too tired to get up."

"I don't mind sleeping here. You make a good pillow."

They laughed, and fell asleep in each other's embrace.

Continued in Chapter Eight...

* * *

A/N: Primary training for both Riolu and Rose, followed by the most intimate night of their young lives. But will this last?

- UBE Chief

Another note for my readers: This chapter is ridiculously long, even for me. Ten pages of fighting and love to make up for the short chapters of five and six. I do hope that you like it, and please let me know if I should change anything. Remember, read and review!


	8. A Reject Among Everything

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See previous Chapter.

Chapter Eight: A Reject Among Everything

* * *

I ran.

I had to run, even though it hurt my legs to do so. They were catching up, and I was down to my last few bullets in the gun I had stolen from a soldier. Although I knew that they wouldn't kill me, that wouldn't stop them from punishing me for my transgressions.

I need to introduce myself.

I…I am a reject. I am a failed experiment that was meant for humans to become more powerful by injecting themselves with Pokemon DNA. I was the first they tried it on. I have little memory of who I was before the operations, only my name remains. But in that short amount of time from when the military was taken over by Teams Rocket and Galactic, everything had gone from bad to worse. Instead of my name, the dogs that had taken over called me many different things. Abomination; Reject; A scar upon humanity, to name just a few. For some reason, the DNA they had injected me with was that of a Dark-type Pokemon. Umbreon, I believe it was. And now, because of my transformation, no human _or_ Pokemon would look at me the same ever again. I do not know if this horror can be reversed, but for now, I must run. Run as fast as I can to where ever my feet take me.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rose and Riolu were just waking up. Rose opened her eyes and noticed she was on a small blue pillow. Still shaking sleep out of her system, she felt something hard within her. Looking closer, she realized that she was on top of Riolu, and last night's actions shot through her memory. Blushing, she moved her pale, naked body off of him and moved to the washroom to clean up before her parents showed up. Somehow, she felt empty without Riolu's member inside of her. But she knew that one day, when this is all over; they'll be able to mate again. Smiling, she exited the bedroom.

* * *

Riolu opened his eyes. He was awake before she was. Smiling, he knew that their activities wouldn't have gone unnoticed by Scott and his mate. Ah well, Scott couldn't blame them. After all, those two were his age when they first coupled - or so his dad had told him. He got up and rechecked his bandages. They were soaked through, but not with blood. Pokemon like him had the unusual tendency to rapidly heal after wounds, fatal or non. As he unwrapped the bandages, he picked up a strange Aura. It was similar to a Dark-type Pokemon, but at the same time, a humans'. He knew that whatever it was, it was being chased – straight to the bunker. He ran out to the hallway, scanning for Rose.

"Rose? Where are you?"

"In here Riolu! What's wrong?"

"Something's up, and I have a strange feeling like we're going to get caught in the middle of it."

A door opened, and Rose's head poked out. Ignoring the fact that she was still naked, he pressed on.

"Do you know if your dad's available?"

"I don't know. Let me get dressed and I'll find a stone."

"No. Whatever's going to happen; we won't have time to search for one of your dad's stones."

"Then let me get dressed at least!" she said indigently, slamming the door on his muzzle.

Rubbing his now-throbbing nose, he called back, "Can't you just regenerate it while we're on the move?"

"Only when I'm a Gardevoir. As a Kirlia, my Psychic powers still aren't that developed," she said, her voice slightly muffled by the door.

Their discussion was interrupted by a sudden banging on the outside door. Whoever was being chased was now at their doorstep.

"Rose …"

The door swung open and Rose stormed out, her dress only half regenerated.

"What?"

"Well, besides the fact that you're still getting dressed, we have a situation. The presence I've sensed is at the front of the bunker, and we've run out of time. I'll try and stall, you get yourself decent."

Anger getting replaced by worry, she quickly moved back inside of the washroom, closing the door behind her. Riolu moved over to the emergency exit Scott had shown them after lunch the previous day. Quietly closing the door behind him, he snuck over to the front of the bunker. What he saw was both unwelcome and surprising.

* * *

I had managed to find a well-hidden bunker underneath a large hill. I had heard loud commotions coming from this general direction several days beforehand. I hoped that whoever was inside would be friendly enough to let me hide here, or - even better, the bunker was empty. That might not be the case considering that I had heard that a retired Black Ops member had lived near here - before the rest of them terminated his life. I had to open the door before I was spotted by the soldiers. The small caliber pistol I had obviously wouldn't crack the heavy metal the door was made of, so I had to find a different method. I wondered if injecting me with Pokemon DNA had other effects besides my physical appearance. I tried to remember a move that most Dark-types knew: Shadow Ball. As the thought of the move formed in my mind, so did a sinister energy in my hands.

* * *

Riolu was watching the creature form a move in its hands. He recognized it instantly as a Shadow Ball. He knew that if this thing wasn't friendly, he could seriously harm his lover and friend. He had to stop it, whatever it was. As he crept up behind the being, he stepped on a stick, breaking it. As the being stopped forming the move, it whipped around, bringing up a small L-shaped object. Remembering his previous experience with such an object, he did the first thing that came into his mind -

He sacked him.

Eyes watering, the figure collapsed onto the floor, clutching its groin and whimpering. The object fell from its grasp and Riolu kicked it away into the dense brush. Riolu knew that what he did was out of impulse, but it didn't stop him for feeling slightly bad for the being. But now, questions must be answered.

* * *

Damn, that hurt! Who knew that such a little Pokemon had such strength within it! I could barely breathe from the Riolu's punch, and now I was disarmed. But then again, I suppose that the natural weakness of Dark-types intensified the pain from the Force Palm that I received. I could hear the growling of the Riolu now looking down on me, and I tried to look up at it. I could almost feel the hatred radiating from it. The little guy must've had a bad experience with humans beforehand. All of a sudden, it barked at me. Curious, I almost thought that I understood what it just said. I looked at it, and it barked again. By the tone of the Riolu's voice, I could tell that it was male. I was so close to understanding what it was asking - or ordering - me.

"Rio – you doing – Riolu?" he said.

So close – so close to understanding. The Pokemon DNA within me must be trying to attune me to the Riolu's voice.

"Kirlia?"

Oh, shit. Now there's another one. For all I knew, the Riolu might be trying to protect his close friend - or something more.

"Rio, Riolu."

"Kir, Kirlia, Kir!"

Damn, they were talking too fast for me to understand. One male Riolu, me at its mercy, and a female Kirlia, most likely frightened at my appearance. Suddenly, a soothing essence flooded my mind.

'Hello? Can you hear me?'

The voice - unmistakably the Kirlia's, sounded scared. She had all the right to be. I was a monster, a freak, something that was experimented on by humans. I felt ashamed to be in her presence - why, I had no idea.

'Oh, you're a very kind being underneath I see. But I can't tell what you are, so can you explain to us?'

I haven't said a word, and yet that Kirlia knew more about me than I did myself - damn that experiment to hell. I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain who and what I am. The Riolu still looked weary of me, so I sat up slowly.

"You won't like what I'm about to tell you, but you two seem smart enough to know what's going on."

"Rio – the point!"

Finally, I could understand their language.

"Alright, straight to the point then. I'm being chased down by the Black Ops, and no doubt that they'll find me soon. Obviously I'm not your average human - although I can hardly call myself that anymore. I don't have any memory from before I was turned into this - thing, save for my name. My name is -"

"Over here! He's over here!"

"Crap, too late. Run you two, before they find you."

Unfortunately, a black-clad person burst through the brush and aimed an assault rifle at us.

"Gotcha now, you abhorrent bastard," he said. Noticing the other two, he seemed pleased. "Well, well, looky here! What do we got today, a Riolu and a Kirlia?" he chuckled darkly.

The Riolu stood in front of the Kirlia in a protective stance, as if to shield her from whatever this particular soldier had in mind for them.

"The Commander will be pleased that I found two rare Pokemon," he started, seemingly distracted by his thoughts, "A Lucario could fetch a lot on the Black Market, and a Kirlia…" he trailed off, a completely evil look on his face. "Well, I'm sure the Commander won't mind if I take the Kirlia for my own…purposes," he finished, a grin creeping on his face.

At that, the Riolu started growling loudly, baring his teeth.

"Well now, looks like this mutt needs to be shown his spot! C'mere you…" he didn't get to finish his sentence as I tripped him. Jumping up, I snatched his weapon from his grasp and pointed it at him.

"You disgraceful fucker! How dare you take my weapon! I don't care if the boss wants you alive, I'll kill you!" he shouted, drawing his sidearm.

Before he even had his pistol halfway up to firing height, I snapped the rifle up and pulled the trigger. A single round went off, punching a neat little hole in the man's forehead, but blasting the back of his head out into the forest. No doubt that the fracas from the rifle's report will get the rest of them here faster.

* * *

Both Riolu and Rose were shocked at what just occurred in front of them. The normal-looking human had wanted to sell Riolu on what he had called "the Black Market", and he had wanted Rose for…his own perverted desires. Rose was in shock at the images that human had projected unknowingly into her mind, and she couldn't shake it out. But now, the other human - the one that looked similar to an Umbreon - held the rifle to his side and tried, once again to get them to run.

"Look here you two, the rest of them will be here soon. Luckily that guy didn't have a chance to tell the rest about you, so I'd run away from here."

"We can't!" Rose said.

"Why not? You two are considered 'wild', as in Pokemon that haven't been caught by a trainer. I don't see why you can't run from this place."

Again, they were interrupted by a sudden rustling in the bushes nearby. Although they couldn't see what was behind the foliage, they knew who it was.

"Ace, come on back with us! We won't harm you or your little friends!"

Laughter erupted.

"Bullshit! I know what awaits me back at that base of yours! I don't care if I'm stuck like this; you're not taking me back!"

Rose could sense the immediate hatred seeping out of the half human, half Umbreon. She knew that whatever the Black Ops did to him, he didn't want it to happen to anyone else.

"Riolu," she whispered.

"Rose?"

"We have to help him."

"What? But he's -"

"I know what he is. He's in pain, not just from your attack, but a residual pain that I can't fully explain. He feels violated and alone, just like us. We can't just keep running away from these people Riolu, we're going to have to face them sooner or later."

He sighed. "Alright. For you, I'll do it."

"Aww, Ace, don't make this harder than it has to be. We're simply going to take you back, reverse your transformation…then release you."

Rose sensed a slight hesitation in the man's words, as though he was hiding something from Ace. But she saw through the fake promises. Ace was to be taken back all right, but only to be transformed further into becoming a Pokemon. If it failed, however…

"Fuck off Howard! There's no way I'm falling for that!"

"You had to call me that, didn't you? Boys, it's time to bring in this sorry excuse for an experiment back to base so that he can be taught a lesson."

Slight cheers erupted from the forest.

"And we'll take those two Pokemon as well. I'm sure the head honcho would want them for something."

More cheers.

Ace snapped up the rifle he was holding and fired off a round into the forest. A heavy _thump_ told them that the projectile hit its mark. At that, however, there was a mad rush of humans coming from the forest, all intent on making him pay. Most of them got within ten feet of him before falling to deadly accuracy. Unfortunately, the rest of them got past that and whipped out batons sparking with electricity. Jab after jab was met with single shots from the rifle as Ace tried to get the mob of soldiers off of him. As quickly as they came, they retreated, some dead, the rest injured.

"Ace, last chance. I don't want to order the use of lethal force, but if I have to, I will."

Before Ace even got a chance to reply, a blue-white orb flew past him and into the forest, impacting something with a heavy _whoomph_, followed by another _thump_. A second later, a purple light scythed its way into the dense brush, decapitating any short trees in its path. As Ace looked behind him, he could hear the sickening _thump_s of heads falling off their bodies.

Silence filled the following void as Ace noticed that both the Riolu and Kirlia were in a fighting stance, ready for any human that wasn't him.

"Knock them out. I want Ace and the Riolu alive. The other…we'll have our fun with before killing it."

No more cheers or laughter came from the forest. The Black Ops knew that this time, it was serious. As the men emerged, Ace brought the rifle up to bear again and opened fire. Body after body dropped, but more simply took their place.

"Concussion and flash. No need to use up our ammo."

The men that were visible tossed several cylindrical objects into their midst.

"Grenades!"

Rose turned away at the last moment before they detonated. Unfortunately, she was blinded by a stray flashbang that had rolled away from the rest. Stunned and disoriented, she stumbled backwards, tripping over a root from a tree. She heard a dark chuckle.

"I don't care if the Commander wants you alive. You killed my friends, so I think I'll kill you."

Slowly regaining her sight and senses, she could only watch as a silhouette came into view and point an L-shaped object at her. She closed her eyes, and waited, waiting for the inevitable -

_Bang_.

Continued in Chapter Nine…

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger! Probably the first one in the Trilogy! I'm not going to say what happens next, you'll have to find out later!

- UBE Chief

Another note: I have decided that these three stories; The Passage of Time, Dimensional Warriors Collide and The Gravity of Darkness will be known as The Passage of Dimensional Darkness (PDD) Trilogy.


	9. Just When You Least Expect It

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven.

Chapter Nine: Just When You Least Expect It…

* * *

_Thud_

Rose opened her eyes to see a shadow standing over her with an arm outstretched and slightly bent upward - but what had made that sound? Looking down by the figure's feet, she saw the body of the man that had almost killed her.

"Sorry I'm late Rose, I almost forgot that people were looking for us."

"Dad?"

The figure bent down into the light, and Rose saw the face of her father, clear as day and unmarred by the slight blue-purple tinge of Psychic projection. She was speechless.

"I'll get to the details of my appearance later. Right now," he started, standing up to full height, "how 'bout we deal with these posers first," he finished, aiming the pistol he had at another man standing over Riolu and firing. The man dropped away from Riolu as another soldier stepped out of the forest and looked at the pair.

"What the…Spartan? How're you alive?"

"Who said anything about being alive?" Scott replied and calmly fired the pistol into the man's face with a slight smile.

Now the others were taking notice at the unexpected visitor in their midst and opened fire on him. However, the rounds got absorbed into Scott's body.

"Surprised? I'm not surprised that you are. Hell, I'm willing to bet that none of you have ever met me, let alone fought me. So here's your first – and last taste of my power." With that, Scott glowed a dark blue and all the rounds that had entered his body shot out and hit the soldiers that had fired them, killing them instantly.

"Dad?"

"Ah, right. About my appearance. To put it simply, I decided to go all out with my powers and create a new body, but -"

'_It's not permanent_,' a new voice said.

"Mom?"

'_Yes, dear. Scott, I don't know HOW you got these powers, but you should know better than to put all of it into a new body. With all the side-effects and strain Psychic energy puts onto it, I'm surprised that it already hasn't disintegrated on you._'

"Right. Well, I never told anyone how far my powers had progressed, and -"

'_And what?_'

"To say the least, I'm more powerful than you could imagine. Not the most powerful Psychic, but not that under-developed either."

'_I ought to -_'

"Pardon me," he said suddenly, and disappeared.

Gardevoir sighed. '_Your father…_' she said and also disappeared.

* * *

Meanwhile, a lone soldier was running through the forest, every now and again looking over his shoulder as though expecting something there, along with his hand reaching towards a handheld radio.

"Where do you think you're going?"

_Shluck_

The soldier stopped dead, and looked down. A thin metal blade jutted out of his middle, and at the end, a hand holding the blade's handle. As the soldier looked up, the blade pushed deeper into his body.

"S-Spartan?" he gasped.

"I'll take that," he said, snatching the radio away, "and I think I'll take this too," he finished, swiping the sword horizontally through the soldier's body, causing the man to nearly sever into two.

With a soft _swoosh_, Gardevoir appeared.

'_Where have you been?_' she asked.

"Look down," he replied. "This soldier was just about to radio in our position. I couldn't let that happen, so I killed him. Don't let Rose sense anything from here. She's very perceptive - like her mother," he added with a sly grin.

'_Why hide anything from her?_'

"Despite all that has happened, I don't think that now is the time to see her father doing something this gruesome to another body, human or otherwise. Using a gun is one thing, using a melee weapon is entirely different."

'_I don't see how, but alright. Let's go back and see if everyone is okay from this unexpected attack._'

With simultaneous _whoosh_es, the pair disappeared.

* * *

Back at the entrance to the bunker, Rose was trying to shake Riolu out of a stupor.

"Riolu, RIOLU!"

"Would - you - stop - shaking - me?" he replied.

"Oh thank Arceus you're alright!"

"No thanks to your shaking, yes," he replied.

Dual _whoosh_es signaled the arrival of both Scott and Gardevoir.

"You two alright?"

"We're fine dad. What's with the sudden disappearance?"

Scott quickly glanced over at Gardevoir and looked back at Rose. "Nothing. I just thought I sensed something."

A groan made all of them jump. Scott was the first to recover and whirled around, pistol suddenly in his right hand.

"Whoa! Hold up, I'm on your side!"

"Who - or what, are you?"

"I'm Ace. I was running away from the Black Ops when I ran into this bunker and this Riolu here - and got a slightly painful welcome."

"What about your appearance?"

"Black Ops' doing. Apparently I was selected to be a part of an experiment, and they turned me into this. Half human, half Umbreon. Can't say I enjoy being like this, but it has some advantages."

"I don't fully trust you…but alright. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say."

"Nice to meet ya then. I overheard those soldiers talking about Spartan. Is that you?"

"Yes…I haven't used that name ever since I left the Black Ops, more than ten years ago."

"And you're still alive?"

Scott laughed. "Why does everyone still assume I'm alive? No. I've been dead for five years. Long story short, it was the same people that made you like that who killed me. Needless to say, I made sure I took down as many operatives as possible, but I think one got away from my final efforts."

A flash of pain shot through Ace's skull and a blur of repressed memory flashed in front of his eyes. The sound of gunfire, the flash of grenades, and the blistering heat of a forest on fire. He grabbed his temples and groaned.

Gardevoir immediately took notice of these symptoms and the pain of these particular memories, but said nothing. Her doubts would be answered in time, even if it took the rest of her afterlife.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Migraine. No idea what caused it. Hurts like hell though."

"You'll get over it. Meanwhile, why don't we go inside and grab a bite to eat? Rose, I need to talk to you. Alone."

After everyone else was inside the bunker, Scott turned to his daughter.

"Rose," he started.

She looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes.

He sighed. "Rose, what were you thinking last night?"

She cringed, knowing that this would pop up sooner or later. She just hoped that it would be later and not now.

"I know you love him, but you two should've waited for your final evolutions to do such a thing."

"But dad," she began.

"No buts'. Please, promise me that you won't do that again until you're a Gardevoir and he's a Lucario?"

She wasn't even planning on doing the deed again until then anyways, but she decided to make the promise to him anyways.

"I promise dad. No more of what happened last night between me and Riolu until we've evolved."

He smiled. "Okay then. I did this talk mainly because your mother and I sensed it - as most Psychics would - and she wouldn't stop berating me about it all night as well. Now let's go in and have brunch. Doubtless you and Riolu are hungry."

* * *

After their meal, Scott was talking to Gardevoir.

"I don't trust him. Something's off about him, but I can't place what it is."

'_I have the same feeling. But for me, it's hard deciphering the jumbled memories as he's been genetically merged with a Pokemon. All I can tell is that he's in a massive amount of pain, but he's unwilling to show it._'

"It's not that. For some reason, I feel as though he was at our place on that night. Somehow he was involved with my murder, but I can't place it."

'_Let it go for now Scott. We'll find out more soon, I can feel it._'

* * *

Meanwhile, Ace was strolling around the hill that was the bunker, trying to remember what had happened before the experiment.

"Who am I? More importantly, _what_ was I like? I can't remember anything…"

"Hey."

Ace whipped around, but only met the red eyes of the Riolu.

"Oh. Hi."

"Don't mind if I join you, do you?"

"Go ahead."

"Sorry about earlier, really."

Ace laughed. "Probably my fault for aiming the gun at a Pokemon who could whip my ass into submission."

"All the same, I'm sorry. I was shot by another human just a few days earlier, and I still had some residual issues with human weapons."

Just as Ace was about to reply, a scream shattered the night air. Riolu, having both enhanced hearing and Aura sensing, knew immediately who the scream belonged to. Without a single word to Ace, he bolted into the forest, looking for the one he loved.

* * *

Once at the scene, he probed the immediate area and got a faint whiff of human scent along with an evil Aura, travelling with both the scent and traces of Aura of his lover. He knew that if he didn't act in time, her fate could be the same as his parents - death. He also knew that they couldn't be too far off, and he could hear a human panting, either from exhaustion from carrying something, or from…other activities. Neither was welcome in either instance, and Riolu hurried to find the source.

A little further along a hidden path, the human in question was struggling with Rose, who wouldn't stop her attempts to escape this human's clutches.

"Quit struggling, damn you! You're hard enough to lug around without you moving - but it's going to be worth it when I get you back to the cabin…oh yes. I'm going to have my way with you before handing you over to the Black Ops. From the looks of things, you're the so-called daughter of the dead specialist sniper of the former do-gooders."

Rose could only widen her eyes in fear as she tried to speak, but the human had placed a cloth in her mouth to prevent such a thing from happening. She couldn't run either, as he had bound her arms and legs as well. Sure, she could teleport, but how would she get away? For her, the teleportation process drained too much of her still-budding Psychic abilities, and she could only manage one teleport per hour, not mentioning that her powers were still regenerating after she made herself a new dress after her mating with Riolu. Who knows what could happen to her in that time? Her only hope was that either her parents or Riolu would save her.

* * *

Riolu, however had overheard the human talking, and knew that it was either now or never to get her back. He sprang from the bush where he was hiding, and aimed his anger into an Aura Sphere, one much larger than he could normally produce, and under his fury, he knew that it was his time. Launching the orb, it collided with the human's head, making him drop Rose and sending the body head over heels onto the forest floor. The light from the Aura Sphere didn't dissipate, but increased as Rose took notice at the changing form of her lover. From a small but lithe body to a much larger one as larger, sinewy muscles rippled underneath the darker blue of his fur and the pale yellow of his chest fur along with three new spikes located on the top of both his paws and the middle of his chest. Her Riolu had evolved into a much more mature Lucario.

"Don't you DARE touch her."

"Or what?" the human replied, going into a crouch and producing a sawn-off shotgun from his cloak.

Lucario disappeared - or appeared to, as his speed was increased tenfold, suddenly appearing by the human's shoulder.

"Or this," Lucario replied, and took hold of the arm that held the weapon and bent it far back, snapping it with a loud _crack_ and rendering it useless. As the man screamed in pain, Lucario snapped out his leg, and tripped the man onto the forest floor again, but this time breaking the man's leg in the process. As Lucario charged another Aura Sphere and aimed it at the human's face, he heard a cry behind him.

"No, Riolu, don't!"

Lucario froze, Aura Sphere mere inches away from the man's head, and instead directed it at the sawn-off, bending it into an unusable form. Standing up to full height, Lucario gave the man a threatening growl and moved off to where Rose had managed to spit out the gag and swiftly cut the ropes binding her limbs. Once free, she threw her arms around him and hugged tightly.

"Oh, Riolu! I'm so glad to see you!"

He chuckled deeply. "I think I'm Lucario, now."

She blushed, but before she managed to say thanks in a different manner, a _whoosh_ brought them back to their senses.

"Hold it. Turn around slowly. Let go of my daughter, or I will shoot."

"Dad, wait! That's Riolu!"

"Lucario," he whispered into her ear.

"Riolu? Is that you? Damn, you evolved already? That was fast, considering I thought your species needed more time to evolve naturally…"

"I was rushed into it, given the circumstances at hand, Scott," Lucario replied.

"Ah, yes. For the man that wanted to 'have his way' with my daughter…" A single shot rang out through the night, and only the light _thump_ of limbs falling onto the ground accompanied the sound of the gunshot.

But that went unnoticed by both his daughter and her mate, as they were in an embrace only lovers could be when presented with relief after an event such as this. As Scott watched, his daughter started to brighten with the moon, and she began to change. Lucario had to release his hold on her and stand back as she transformed. When the light died down, the form of a Gardevoir was left in its place.

'Looks like you're not the only one with a new form,' she said with a slight giggle.

Continued in Chapter Ten…

* * *

A/N: The defeat of the Black Ops at the bunker and unexpected events lead to Riolu's and Rose's evolutions! What can come of these new changes? More in the next chapter…

- UBE Chief


	10. Uprising

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven.

Chapter Ten: Uprising

* * *

"To be honest, you look more stunning than your younger self."

'Who said I was older? I'm still the same age.'

"Nonetheless, you're beautiful."

'I could say the same for you, my handsome Lucario.'

Suddenly, they were both interrupted by a large flash of blue light and a pulse of high Psychic energy. Scott grunted.

'Dad?'

"It's...nothing."

'You sure? Let's have you checked out by mom...'

"NO! Erm...no. I'm fine, really. Just a slight vent of Psychic powers, that's all."

"But Scott -"

However, he disappeared before they could get in another word.

* * *

Back outside the bunker, Scott was worried.

"Damn, that shouldn't have happened. Why was a vent necessary? I don't like this one bit."

With a slight whoosh and a crinkle of leaves, both his daughter and her mate appeared before him.

'Dad, wait. I think I understand why you had to vent.'

"I'm realizing it too. But don't tell your mother. She'll worry non-stop about my well-being if you do. But knowing her, she already knows, and she's just waiting for one of us to slip up...so she can either berate me - or something else."

'Alright Dad, I promise not to tell.'

"That's my girl," he said, smiling.

"Mine now, if you've forgotten," Lucario commented, amid gales of laughter from all three of them.

* * *

Inside, they were planning the next stage of attack.

"It's time to take the fight to them. Undoubtedly, they know we're here, and it's only a matter of time before they come back in force. So I say, why wait?"

"I hear ya. I want to pay the Black Ops back for what they did to me...I only hope there's a cure for me when we get there."

"Don't worry Ace, you'll get your chance. We all want a little payback for what they did to us, especially my daughter and her mate."

'Dad, when will we be able to strike?'

'_Now see? See what you got in her mind?_'

"Must be from my side of the family," Scott joked.

Lucario, however, was scrutinizing the layout of the headquarters of the Black Ops and hasn't spoken ever since they've began planning.

"Lucario, why so quiet?"

"...How old is this information?"

"At least a decade, when I left them. Why?"

"We need updated information." Almost reluctantly, he turned to Ace. "Do you know the current layout of the base?"

Ace looked slightly flustered. "Do I know it? Hell, I've been dragged through enough hallways to let you know where most of the major areas for attack should be. As far as I know, the layout hasn't changed."

'What about the guards' barracks and the head boss' room?'

"Those, I don't know. I was only moved from testing area to testing area...until I managed to break out, of course."

"Hmmm," Scott mused. "We need to do a little reconnaissance, then. I'll take Ace and we'll scout the outside. Gardevoir - take Rose and scout out the inside. Lucario, if you can, scout the holding area for prisoners. If we can get extra help, let me know. I don't like the fact that it's just the five of us, so we might need assistance."

'_Hun, wait. What about Staraptor, Dragonite and Luxray?_'

"OH! I completely forgot about our old friends. We'll have to send them a message tonight and see if they're up to it."

Just then, a knock reverberated through the interior of the bunker. Immediately, everyone took up fighting poses and Scott had a large weapon with a cylindrical container attached to the bottom of it suddenly in his hands. Gardevoir glided to the door and peered through it. A shout of surprise, and she glided back to them.

'_It's Dragonite! And Luxray's with her!_'

As everyone relaxed, Scott said, "Well, I guess we should let them in."

As the pair walked back to the door, he heard murmurings just on the other side. When they opened the door, they were immediately barraged by a multitude of questions by a very shocked Dragonite and Luxray.

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down!"

"Scott, what happened to your house? It's only a mangled wreck of ash and charred pieces of wood!"

"And what are all these rumours that you've been killed? They're not true are they?"

"We might need to speak inside. A host of changes have happened while you were gone in the past five years."

"What of Lucario and his mate? We couldn't find their den! What about little Riolu?"

"I'm not so little anymore," a voice replied. It was Lucario, who had come to investigate the racket.

Both Dragonite and Luxray were too stunned for words.

"Before we get too far ahead, I think it's time to fill you in."

* * *

"So now you're planning to raid the place."

"Forget raid, demolish. We're going to take that place apart and save as many as possible along the way."

It had taken several hours, a number of Oran drinks and Arceus knows how many times they've had to repeat basic information, but now both Dragonite and Luxray were caught up. And they wanted in.

"After all they did to all of you? I'm not surprised at all. When's the next move?"

"Soon. Right now, we're just about to do some basic recon. I hope you two don't mind."

"I think I'll stick with Rio - sorry - Lucario to find some extra help."

"I might need your X-ray vision. Arceus only knows if those bastards set up traps to prevent anyone from entering."

"Or escaping," Luxray said. "Ah, before we get lost in the moment, we have some news to tell you."

'_We?_'

"Yes, we," Dragonite piped up. As Luxray moved closer to her, they both started to blush.

"Well? Are we waiting for an invite? Spill!"

"We've...mated."

'I figured as much,' Rose giggled. Everyone turned to her. 'What, didn't you notice how close they've been? Much closer than Dad explained to me on how they were friends.'

"Didn't I tell you that she's as perceptive as her mother?" Scott whispered to his mate.

'_I think she's more perceptive than both of us combined,_' she replied.

"Yes, well, it was only after a year after your death that we decided to hook up. A year after that, we mated. We can only hope that we can get pups of our own."

"I'm sure that soon after this, you two will have the time of your lives trying again and again until you do," Scott chuckled.

At that, both Dragonite and Luxray fired weak, yet painful attacks at him simultaneously. Before they hit, however, he held up his hand and stopped the attacks dead with a shining silver barrier.

"Protect. Not one of the moves I had planned to learn, but it has its usefulness."

Moving closer to him, Gardevoir quietly asked, '_Why didn't you use that move that day?_'

"I forgot," was his reply. "I was too busy trying to get rid of them before they found you and Rose, so I ended up dead."

With a withering glare that left a chill down his spine, she left and moved back to the group, who were still chatting about Dragonite's and Luxray's pairing.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a darkened hallway, a Private ran up to the heavy blast door, panting with exhaustion. Pressing his finger to the com-link, he muttered a pass phrase and the door unlocked with a loud _clunk_. The door opened to an even darker room, the sole light being from a multitude of monitors, silhouetting a high-backed chair. The Private walked up to within a few meters of the chair, still trying to catch his breath.

"Well?"

"Sir," he puffed, "We found him."

"Just him, or...?"

"No, sir. His entire family as well."

"..."

"Sir?"

"Destroy them."

"Sir, may I speak candidly?"

A suppressed _thwip_, a muzzle flash barely noticeable, and the Private fell to the ground, downed by a single shot to the head.

"No, you may not," the voice said.

As the chair rotated back to the monitors, he started to wonder.

"Spartan...I should have known. Only you would be able to fake your own death and manage to hide away with your abomination of a family for five years before we could hunt you down again. This time, no mistakes. None at all."

A hand raised, he depressed a button on a nearby console. A light lit up, confirming that he could speak.

"Shadow."

"Yes, sir?"

"New mission objective. Link up with Light and prepare to move out."

"Target?"

"Negative. _Targets_," he replied, placing emphasis on the plural.

When Shadow next spoke, it was with concealed glee. "Did we find him?"

"Better. We found all of them."

"Eliminate?"

"Annihilate."

With that, the com-link shut off. He knew that when Shadow and Light were on a mission together, they would not fail. They were his best operatives, second only to the late Echo, and only surpassed by the one being who fled while undergoing strict physical changes to his body. As the chair swivelled back towards the door, the light from the monitors fell upon his face.

Giovanni, the one behind all this, smiled, knowing that what would happen to Spartan would come swiftly, and without mercy.

Continued in Chapter Eleven...

* * *

A/N: Found out again! But this time, who has the upper hand? Scott, or Giovanni? Who is the person who went strict physical changes to his body? Questions will be answered in the next chapter...

-UBE Chief


	11. Past Friends and Merciless Encounters

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven.

A/N: This chapter coincides with Arcane-Boomeus' _A Strange Love Part 2_, so if any of you are lost, read up on his stories. Also, I updated the rest of the chapters to coincide with _ASL2_ and the fact that Arcane-Boomeus gave me the idea to name Rose in his latest chapter (Obviously I named her, but everything will be made clearer [I hope] if you read his story).

Chapter Eleven: Past Friends and Merciless Encounters

* * *

"KNOCK, KNOCK!"

That voice - so familiar, echoed throughout the entire bunker. Rose shot up from her sleep and in doing so, she woke up Lucario as well. Scott and Gardevoir, who were also up, went to the bunker's living room.

"Who's there?" Scott shouted back.

'_Was that Boomeus?'_ Gardevoir asked.

'ROSE!'

"Was that Megan?" Scott wondered.

"Scott, you sly bastard, open up!"

"Definitely Boomeus," Scott muttered, and moved to open the door. As he opened it, he shouted out, "Did you HAVE to use Hyper Voice?"

In response, a green-white figure burst through the doorway, knocking him aside.

'Where's Rose?' the Gardevoir asked.

'Megan?' Rose asked, peeking out of the hallway, still blinking sleep from her eyes.

'Rose? Is that you?'

'Megan! It _is_ you!'

With that, the pair rushed to each other and embraced.

"Damn, that girl can run," Scott said, getting up from the floor and dusting himself off.

"Megan, is she in there?"

'Come in and see for yourself!'

At that, they heard footsteps both inside and outside the bunker. In walked Boomeus, not much being changed from the last time they met, and holding weapons as well.

"What's with the gear?" Scott asked them.

"A precautionary measure. Megan was worried sick about not being able to sense Rose, and she dragged me over here."

As he looked around, he noticed a few differences about Scott and Gardevoir.

"Hey Scott?" Boomeus asked.

"What's on your mind?"

"Aren't you dead?"

Scott facepalmed. "Figured out again."

"Wait, why aren't you in the afterlife then?"

'_It's quite simple, if you appreciate the circumstances. Both Scott and I have enough residual Psychic powers to form temporary bodies, but Scott here…'_ Gardevoir trailed off.

Scott sheepishly grinned. "Yeah, I decided on making myself a new body. I kind of hated just being in a void; with no physical body…it felt weird."

Boomeus grinned. "I'd agree with you there, except for the fact that I haven't died yet, and I don't plan on doing so -"

* * *

Time froze.

In slow motion, Scott moved behind Boomeus, bringing up his right hand and shoving him down and away from the now slow-moving projectile that was coming within an inch of touching his head. Scott's left hand came up and he flattened his palm against the bullet and let time resume its course.

* * *

"- any - WHOA!" Boomeus exclaimed before his face hit the floor.

Everyone was shocked into silence. The only sound came from the still-spinning projectile that was being held in its place by Scott's palm.

"You were saying about you not planning on dying, Boomeus?" Scott said, a slight tinge of rage filling his voice.

"What - how?"

"I think the question you should be asking is _who_," Scott said, closing his hand on the bullet. A horrible sound came from the metal object: a screeching, penetrating noise that made everyone cringe, until a crunching sound overcame the screeching, signaling the demise of the object.

"Let me take a wild guess…the Black Ops?" It was not a question. Rather, a statement that was too obvious to _not_ point out.

"I think we need to greet our 'guests', Boomeus," Scott said.

With that, they both walked out, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

Outside, Shadow was dumbfounded. How had his shot - taken from close to a kilometer away - missed? One second, the person was standing up, the next, on the floor, but there was another person in the way of the shot, holding a hand up as if to stop the bullet. The next thing he knew, he heard a terrible screeching noise coming from the bunker followed by a _crunch_ - as though the bullet itself was compressed until it had finally cracked and shattered.

"How?" Light asked.

'_Why_ would be a more appropriate question,' said a voice within their minds.

As both of their attention was focused again on the seemingly innocent hill, two men had stepped outside and were now walking towards them.

"Shit!" Shadow said, and opened fire on the pair of them with his rifle. Casing after spent casing hit the forest floor, but the rounds didn't even hit the two figures still approaching them. A loud ripping noise sounded beside him, Light having opened fire on them herself with her G36E Valkyrie. Again, the rounds didn't hit them, but as the assault rifle had tracers, it was now obvious to them that they were being deflected rather than being clean misses. Now that the two men were closer, Shadow could see that one of them was none other than Spartan. Almost as if on cue, Spartan flicked both his wrists - as though shrugging off an irksome fly - and began dashing for him. The other man simply stood his ground, as if waiting for them to get closer and unlimbered an AA-12 automatic shotgun.

* * *

Light was screaming now, her voice audible even above her weapons fire. She was focusing on the one target that was an immediate threat - Spartan. However, the rounds bounced off and the bars that he had flicked to his hands flashed, and all she caught a glimpse of was a dual-bladed triangular weapon before one came in contact with her body, burning through cloth, skin and bone.

"So this is what the Black Ops sent? _Pathetic._" The voice held nothing but absolute hatred and rage.

"You think you're all that Spartan," Light gasped, her final moments approaching, "but the Black Ops will defeat you in the end."

"I'll see that _I'll_ get the last laugh," Spartan growled, and withdrew the weapon from her body and turned away. Light fell to her knees, the pain nearly blinding her. With one last glimpse at Spartan, she knew that her empty threats were just that. Empty threats.

With one swift move, Scott wheeled around, bringing one of the hissing weapons around to part Light's head from her body.

"I think I'll let you finish him off, Boomeus," Scott commented.

* * *

As he watched her head fall, Shadow was overcome by a mindless rage. Ditching his spent rifle, he took out a modified AR-15 - not unlike the one Spartan owned so long ago - and rushed towards the pair of men. Before he knew it, however, Spartan had disappeared and a blinding pain was shooting through his midsection. Looking down, he saw the glowing blue-white blade sticking out of him, steadily burning through his clothing.

"Do you really think that I would let you attack me? _Did you really think that you would be able to pull this off?_ Because I think whoever sent you had a really poor understanding on how far my powers have progressed," Spartan hissed in his ear, pushing the blade further into his body. Shadow roared, trying to get away, but the blade only slid deeper in, causing him to yell even louder in pain.

"I'm glad that you brought a microphone with you. Just so that Giovanni on the other end can hear your screams of pain and imagine those screams being his. Now, Boomeus, do this person a favor and blast his head off."

He nodded, and leveled the weapon to firing height and pulled the trigger. Shadow's head exploded in a mess of blood, gore and flying bits of skull. With that, Scott swept the hissing blade upwards, removing the weapon while nearly cutting the freshly-decapitated body in two. As the body dropped, Scott deactivated the weapons, and they disappeared.

* * *

In a locked room, Giovanni crushed the headset that he was wearing in a hand.

"Damn you Spartan. I _will_ get my revenge for this, I promise you that."

Suddenly, he grasped his head in pain, and a dark shadow loomed behind him.

"Easy now, my pet. You will get your chance for vengeance. Or should I say mine?"

The being chuckled darkly, and vanished. Giovanni stopped grasping his head, and his facial features returned to their normal - albeit evil - state.

* * *

Walking back to the bunker, Boomeus asked, "Were you always this violent?"

"Only when I'm forced to," Scott sighed.

'_Scott?_'

'We're fine Gardevoir,' he projected back.

'You have some explaining to do, dad,' Rose sent.

'Ah, crap.' Scott thought.

As they got up to the door of the bunker, it opened for them, revealing four very pissed off Gardevoir with their arms crossed.

"Grace?" Boomeus said in surprise. She nodded, a death glare beginning to form on her face.

'If this wasn't so serious, this would actually be cute,' Scott projected over to Boomeus.

His only response was a shudder and a gulp, knowing full well what his wife could do to him if everything went south.

"Well?" Grace said.

"Well what? There were a couple of bad-asses from the Black Ops who attempted to kill us - again - and we eliminated them," Scott replied.

Instantly, everything went south. With a bright flash, both Scott and Boomeus were upside-down, hanging from their ankles by combined Psychic power.

'Not even you can break through this, dad,' Rose said, anger showing in her smooth features. 'Now _spill_.'

"What on earth do you want to know?" Scott said, his face steadily turning redder by the moment.

'What have you hidden from me all this time? Why won't you let me see what you do? Why, dad, WHY?' Rose shouted, tears forming in her eyes. Lucario came up behind her and put his arms around her, trying to get her to calm down.

Scott sighed. "Fine, but you're going to have to let us down - I don't think Boomeus can stay like this much longer." Another flash, and both men were on the floor, rubbing their temples.

"To be honest Rose, I never wanted you to see the violent side of my life. I was even regretting showing you a pistol when you were just a Ralts - even if it was just to teach you a bit about the evils of humanity. Even the den where you and your mother hid whenever that pack of Mightyena attacked us was soundproofed to a degree. I never wanted any of this to happen…" Tears were now forming on Scott's face, but as they dripped, they were absorbed into the surrounding Aura instead of falling to the floor. Nobody noticed this, however, and Scott continued.

"When you were attacked by that one lone Black Ops, I was worried beyond what you thought I was. I was scared. I feared for your life, as I had hoped, hoped beyond all hope that you would be safe from everything. I was wrong. Gardevoir, my beautiful silver angel, you had no idea what I went through to ensure all our protection. I was paranoid to the point of insanity. I was -" Scott broke down, unable to continue. Everyone had tears on their faces now, clearly shining in the dawning sunlight coming through the open door.

'_Scott…_' Gardevoir started, kneeling in front of her mate.

Rose was now sobbing into Lucario's shoulder, and while he was trying to be strong for her; he knew that Scott didn't have long before he was permanently absorbed back into the surrounding Aura, and she would be left alone, again. 'But this time,' he thought, 'she'll have me.'

'Let's give them some space, babe,' Boomeus thought over to Grace. She nodded, then motioned to Megan to follow them.

* * *

As Boomeus, Grace and Megan walked outside; they could hear someone groaning. Rushing over, they found an Umbreon Pokemorph clutching his head, doubled over in pain.

"Hey!" Boomeus shouted.

The Pokemorph looked up, eyes still watering from the pain. "Yeah?"

'What's wrong?' Megan asked.

"I…don't know. This sudden pain keeps hitting me at random times, showing me bits and pieces from a life I can't even remember. I can't understand any of it."

Grace's eyes lit up as she delved into the mind of the Pokemorph. As soon as she did, however, she reeled back, gasping in apparent discomfort.

"Grace?" Boomeus inquired.

"I…saw everything. But I think it would be best if Scott and his family didn't know. They have enough going on at the moment."

"But you'll show me, right?"

"Not a chance. This is too important to let many people know. I suspect that Gardevoir knows as well, but she's just waiting for the right time to ask. She'll let Scott know then."

"Hey," the Pokemorph said. "Can you tell me anything about my past?"

Grace looked at him pityingly. "I'm sorry Ace, but what I've seen should remain locked up for as long as you're with Scott." With that, her eyes glowed again, and Ace was knocked out cold.

"I thought Psychic-type moves couldn't work on Dark-types?" Boomeus said.

"I used Hypnosis on his brain, silly, not the body. His brain is still human, so I can use my moves against him." 'And he's not the only one that I could have put to sleep,' she added telepathically to Boomeus, an evil grin creeping on her face.

'So long as it's not permanent, and you're doing something we both enjoy, I don't mind, babe,' Boomeus projected back, a grin of his own appearing on his face.

"Would you two STOP looking at each other like your about to do it here and now?" Megan shouted at the pair, causing them to simultaneously blush.

"Let's head back in then," Boomeus said.

* * *

Back inside, everyone was slightly cheered up by the fact that Megan and Rose were back together.

'I'm so jealous of you Rose,' Megan said.

'Why? Is it because I got myself a mate?' Rose replied, gliding over to Lucario, who grinned sheepishly and placed a paw against the back of his head while placing the other around Rose's waist.

"I may have proclaimed my love to her first, but she was the one who took matters into her own hands in bed," he said.

Rose shot him a look of disbelief, then said, 'As I recall, Lucario, _you_ were my bed that night.'

"Only because you decided to rape me on the floor," Lucario said with a bark of laughter.

Now Rose pushed away from him, her hands on her hips, frowning. 'And the only reason I did that was because you got hard when we kissed!'

Megan giggled. 'Now I _know_ you two were made for each other.'

"Megan? It's time to go now."

'What? Why?'

"Now that we know that Rose is safe - and that you have re-established psychic contact with her - I think it's safe to assume that if she's in trouble, you're just going to drag me along to make sure she's alright."

'Well…you do have a point. Bye then Rose, I'll miss you.'

'Same here Megan,' Rose replied, and the two hugged before Megan walked outside with Boomeus and Grace.

"Ah, good times, good times," Scott said, a smile on his face. "Did you know, Rose, that it was Megan who gave you your name?"

'She did?'

Scott's smile grew wider. "You were probably still too young to remember, but yes, Megan named you, Rose."

A blur of colour, and soon the memory formed in her mind's eye. She was gripping Boomeus' head, then suddenly, a funny picture of him wearing nothing but a pair of Mew-adorned boxers got her giggling like mad, causing her to fall off of him. Rose giggled now, the picture of Boomeus wearing that ludicrous set of boxers sticking in her mind.

"Care to let us in on the joke, Rose?" Scott asked.

She sent over the image of Boomeus and what he was wearing to everyone in the room, causing them all to stare, then burst out laughing.

'_Where did you get this idea Rose?_' Gardevoir asked, still giggling.

'Grace sent it over to me the day that we were in the park when I was a little Ralts,' Rose replied.

"For a minute there, I thought you were having dirty thoughts about him," Lucario said.

'Did I make you jealous, my love?'

"…Yes."

At that, they all started laughing harder.

Continued in Chapter Twelve…

* * *

A/N: Damn sorry about this update. I had one hell of a massive set of Writer's Block, and it was only through the assistance of Arcane-Boomeus that I managed this chapter at all. Major props to him, and to anyone who was waiting for this chapter to come out.

- UBE Chief


	12. Gifts and A Way In

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven.

Chapter Twelve: Gifts and a Way In

* * *

'Hey dad?' Rose asked.

"Hmmm?" Scott replied.

'What's that box doing outside of the bunker?'

"What box?" Scott headed for the door, wary of any potential trap. But as he probed the surrounding forest with his Aura vision, he couldn't sense anybody around. As he looked down, he saw a note attached to the box.

It read:

Hey Scott,

Thought you could use these when the time came. They may look like normal grenades, but I assure you, I've modified them to use Thorium instead of shrapnel and high explosives. Make sure that your family doesn't pull the pin on any of these - even though they may be harmless in its solid or liquid form, it becomes _very_ lethal when a spark is added.

Have fun!

- Boomeus

Scott snorted in amusement. "Figures. Only _he_ would send me a box of explosives and tell me to be careful _and_ have fun with them at the same time."

'_Boomeus sent it?_' Gardevoir asked. '_I didn't sense him coming back!_'

"He's a freaking ninja that way. He probably used Agility about fifteen times to get here and back without any of us noticing - the Mew Pokemorph that he is," Scott added with a grin.

Suddenly, an argument that was taking place in the background got louder.

'But you CAN'T just be Lucario now!'

"What's wrong with that?"

'I want you to have a name, I can't keep calling you by your species name, it sounds wrong.'

"Are you going to name me then?"

Rose blushed. 'Only if you want me to,' she said quietly.

It was Lucario's turn to blush at this. "Well, what do you have in mind?"

Rose took on a thoughtful look. 'Hmmm...how does...Orion sound?'

Lucario smiled. "I think that's a great name," he said, nuzzling his head against hers.

Rose giggled. 'Stop that, you're tickling me!'

He looked at her with one eye, the smile becoming wider as he continued nuzzling against her.

'No! Orion, stop it!' Rose said, still giggling.

Orion bared his teeth and crouched low, then tackled Rose, bringing the pair of them crashing to the floor, Orion still nuzzling her like mad, while Rose was equally giggling madly.

"Hey you two, I know you're madly in love with each other, but do you mind? I think the pair of you are getting a _little_ too excited for your own good."

At that, Orion stopped his overly affectionate movements and stood up, bending down to help Rose up.

"Sorry, I got carried away."

'I noticed...maybe we'll finish this later,' Rose said seductively.

Orion grinned. "Maybe this time I'll be the leader."

Scott cleared his throat. "I'm sure both of you will have fun later. But now it's time for business. Now that Boomeus gave us these new…toys, I think we can finish off the Black Ops soon."

Immediately, the change in the atmosphere was obvious. The smiles were wiped away, everyone tensed up and the air grew so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

'You just had to kill it, didn't you dad,' Rose said.

"No need mincing words, I've killed for other reasons - but that's another story for another time."

Rose sighed. 'So what's the plan of attack, then?'

Scott took out a roll of blueprint paper and laid it out on the dining room table. "Hitting them from the front is suicidal. We need to enter from a less conspicuous area."

"The back door then. That seems logical," Orion suggested.

"Too obvious. They'll be watching the back door for any activity. But I think our last resort should be the sewers - they won't be expecting an attack to occur from there."

'_What about when they change guards?_' Gardevoir asked.

"Sounds good, but we don't know when they do that."

"I do."

Everyone turned around, expecting someone else, but not Ace.

"How else do you think I escaped? I've been watching their movements for four months before escaping from that place."

Scott grinned. "I was expecting your opinion sooner Ace. What kept you?"

"Grace knocked me out. Said there was something you had to know, but you would find out soon enough. And no, she wouldn't tell me either."

A frown momentarily appeared on Scott's face, but disappeared almost instantly, leaving the impression that it was just a flickering of the overhead light.

Ace crossed over to the blueprint and pointed out a solitary bunker. "Here. This is where most of the guards sleep when they're not on-duty. All the other guards are posted here, here and here," Ace finished, pointing out the entrance, the back door and a watch tower.

"No guards patrolling around the perimeter?" Orion asked.

"Hmm…I can see why. Motion detectors. They only turn off when it's time to change the guard - so that's the best time for us to sneak in," Scott said.

"And how, may I ask, are we going to handle this?"

"Ah, Luxray, Dragonite. Nice of you two to join us. We're going to handle this as stealthy as possible to get in, then once inside, we're going to tear up the joint."

Luxray bared his fangs. "Always the one to make an impression, aren't you Scott?"

Scott grinned back. "You know me; I like to make one helluva scene."

"Well then," Dragonite started, cracking her knuckles, "What're we waiting for?"

* * *

We had left the bunker and locked it down. If someone broke in, they would receive a surprise - to say the least.

We were all decked out and loaded up with some leftover weapons and armour I had remaining from my days as a part of the Black Ops.

'Dad, do we have to wear your old armour?' Rose asked.

"With the exception of your mother and me, none of you can withstand a bullet fired at supersonic speeds. This armour may save your life." Scott replied.

"And if it doesn't, I'll rip off the head of whoever killed you as revenge." Orion growled.

"I…don't think we'll have the need for that, Orion. Because if all else fails, I'll be the one to save all of you."

'_Not again Scott, please, not again,_' Gardevoir pleaded.

Scott shot a crooked smile at his mate. "I'm already dead, so what does it matter? If I have to sacrifice myself in order to save my family again, I'll do it."

Gardevoir held onto his arm, hoping that what he said wouldn't have to come to pass.

* * *

It was time to strike. It had taken them a few days to make it to the old compound where the Black Ops resided, and surprisingly enough, it was still the exact same as Scott and Ace remembered - which meant that almost nothing could go wrong - almost.

"It's almost time," Ace said.

As Ace looked at his watch, the clock hit 0300. The bunker at the other end of the compound opened, and one soldier stepped out, pressed a few buttons on a keypad beside the open doorway, and there was a slight humming before it died out. The soldier walked across the grounds, moving towards the main entrance - exactly where Scott and everyone else was, waiting for the guards to change.

"Remember, if we get split up, we meet at the Plan B entrance, got that?" Scott whispered, the military chill entering his voice.

Everyone nodded, and prepared their own attacks, ready to send them on their way should they be spotted. Ace and Scott, however, took out combat knifes and held them, poised to strike.

"Hey, Marcus."

"Time for our shift to end?"

"Yeah."

"Finally, my feet were starting to kill me from standing here for so long."

'That's not the only thing that's about to kill you," Scott projected. 'Ace, NOW!'

As Ace shot forwards to silence the two guards, Scott quickly sighted on the watchtower and fired off two rounds - each with a light _puff_ - hitting the first guard posted there, and the one that had come up to relieve him. Two additional _thuds_ told them that Ace had completed his objective, and they moved forward, Rose, Gardevoir and Scott using Imprision or manipulating the view on the security cameras so that nobody would notice them crossing the open ground.

"Hurry!" hissed Ace. "The detectors come back on five minutes after they're turned off!"

As the sprinted towards the door, a guard turned the corner before they had any time to react.

* * *

All of them froze, not expecting the other to show up.

* * *

The time on Ace's watch hit 0304.

* * *

The guard raised his weapon with one hand while his other hand was reaching for the mic on his throat. Simultaneously, Ace grabbed the weapon from the guard's grip while Scott closed in and jammed his combat knife into the man's throat and twisting it before ripping it out, nearly decapitating the man.

Rose and Orion gasped. What they saw on Scott's face was not the one they remembered so well. The pleasant features had turned dark, and the kind eyes that sparkled had turned dull. The blood spatter on his face completed the vision of a trained killer that wouldn't stop for anyone or anything. Gardevoir, however, knew this face well. This was the face that always came back after a mission, these were the eyes that held horror after horror of murders committed, and more often than not, the blood spatter was frequent enough to not be repulsive.

But then, his face turned sad, and the eyes regained some glow to them.

"I hate doing this. But if it's to protect the ones I love, then so be it," he said.

"The doors are locked, Scott."

"Does the guard have a key?"

"No. Neither did the other guards we took care of."

"Then we're going to have to knock politely and ask them to open up," Scott said while withdrawing a grenade and some adhesive tape. "Let's see what the grenades Boomeus gave us can do."

With that, Scott placed the grenade in the middle of the door, stuck a piece of tape on it to prevent it from falling, and pulled the pin.

"Everyone, take cover!"

As they scattered, the grenade went off, cooking off a few more detonations as the Thorium did its job of burning through the steel layers of the door.

"I think we can stop being stealthy now," Luxray said with a light growl.

They walked in, and an alarm went off with a slow _whoop, whoop_ while red emergency lights flashed over the scene.

"Thermal goggles," Scott said without hesitation, as the residual smoke and dust from the grenade obscured their vision. As they put them on, their vision suddenly turned fluorescent, showing them a wide variety of reds, yellows, orange, blue and violet.

"Anything that has orange, yellow and red are heat signatures. Blue and violet are cool signatures. Scan any target with Psychic or Aura before taking action. There may still be a few innocent people and Pokemon in here."

They moved cautiously, Ace and Scott taking out anyone that held a weapon before the others could react. As they reached a heavy metal door, Orion scanning what was behind it.

"Pokemon. All asleep. Either they were drugged, or that room is soundproofed."

"Let's open it up then."

With a slight _hiss_, the door slid into the wall, and several lights turned on, allowing them to turn off their thermal goggles. Immediately, all the Pokemon woke up, and backed up into a far corner of each of their cages.

"Who - who are you?" one tiny Pokemon - a Pikachu - asked.

"Let's just say we're here to bust you out."

"NO! You're lying! You're just here to deposit these other Pokemon in here and lock them up too!"

"Now if he was going to do that, why aren't we in cages or attacking him?" Dragonite asked.

The little guy was beginning to see sense. No doubt that several months holed up here had robbed him of all logical thought.

"You're…really here to save us?"

"And pay back to what these scumbags have done to us," Ace replied, stepping into the room.

All of the Pokemon in the cages gasped, shocked at what was standing in front of them.

"You're not one of us!" a voice shouted.

"You're not even human!" another called out.

"Half-breed!"

"Monster!"

'ENOUGH!'

That and the pulse of Psychic power was enough to silence the angry Pokemon.

'How can you even call him such a thing? He's helping you to survive and escape, and all you can think about is that he's been genetically modified by the very people we've come here to destroy? Don't even THINK of calling him that again, because…because I'm one too.' Rose finished, beginning to sob. Orion came up beside here and held her close as she wept into his shoulder.

The Pikachu spoke up again. "But you look like a normal Gardevoir," it said.

"Looks can be deceiving, little one," Scott said.

The Pikachu looked ready to speak again, but Scott cut it off. "Not a word. I'm giving you all a chance to escape and be free. Either you take it, or you can die here," he said, waving his hand across the room, causing all the locks to fall off. "Let's get out of here," Scott said bitterly.

* * *

After finally battling their way downstairs, hey had managed to free some humans as well, some of them being halfway transformed into Pokemon, or otherwise untouched. They had finally come up to a large set of blast doors, and they knew that Giovanni was behind them.

Scott turned to his family. "I'm giving you all a chance to back out from here. I don't mind you being here but -"

"We're staying with you, Scott," Dragonite said.

"I thought that was obvious when we first traveled back in time so long ago," Luxray added.

'_Nothing could separate me from you,_' Gardevoir said, edging closer to her mate.

Scott turned to the last three members of the group.

"Ace," he started, but Ace cut him off.

"I'm coming," he said.

Scott scoffed at that, then looked at his daughter and her mate.

"Rose, Orion, you don't have to come with us. You two can leave here and live a peaceful life."

'And what if you fail? We'll be hunted non-stop for being your daughter and the son of your friend!'

"We're coming," Orion said simply.

Scott grinned. "Alright then. As Boomeus liked to say: Let's wreck this shit." He turned, and shot the control panel beside the door, causing the doors to open slowly…

Continued in Chapter Thirteen…

* * *

A/N: I'm on a roll here! Looks like TGoD might be finished before the end of the year after all! But what awaits Scott and his family beyond the door? More in the finale next…

- UBE Chief


	13. The End of The Line

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: See Chapter Seven.

A/N: Metallica - The Unforgiven III is used in this chapter. Very dark, fits it well.

Chapter Thirteen: The End of The Line

* * *

_How could he know this new dawn's light  
Would change his life forever?  
Set sail to sea but pulled off course  
By the light of golden treasure_

All Scott could think of at that moment was, 'It's finally time to end this. No more stalling, no more waiting, it's about damn time my family was pulled away from all of this.'

_Was he the one causing pain  
With his careless dreaming?  
Been afraid  
Always afraid  
Of the things he's feeling  
He could just be gone_

Of course he was afraid. Everything up to this point had been scripted, almost as if Arceus Himself had written it.

_He would just sail on_

The door opened…

_He would just sail on_

What met them was darkness.

"Welcome." The voice called out from beyond the shadows, and several spotlights turned on, leading the way to a solitary desk.

"Giovanni, you slick bastard. Why don't you show yourself?"

A dark chuckle emanated from behind the desk. "Because it's simply more fun to watch you walk up here, scared and worried about your so-called family. And what's this? I see you brought my experiment back to me."

Suddenly, Ace clutched his head in agony, all the memories flooding back all at once. That voice, this place, it was all too familiar.

Giovanni chuckled darkly again. "I see that he has regained his memories of this place and its purpose. This…is a _very_ good thing."

_How can I be lost?  
If I've got nowhere to go?  
Searched the seas of gold  
How come it's got so cold?  
How can I be lost  
In remembrance I relive  
How can I blame you  
When it's me I can't forgive?_

It certainly had gotten colder, as if the shadows themselves were stealing away the warmth surrounding them.

"Now, Ace, do you remember _why_ you were re-designed like this?"

"Re-designed? What the hell are you talking about?"

Giovanni laughed, a cold mirthless laugh that set everyone on edge. "You, Ace, were re-designed for one purpose, and one purpose only…to eliminate Spartan."

_Chick-chack_

Instantly, the cold metal barrel of a heavy pistol was pressed up against Ace's skull.

Again, Giovanni laughed.

"Give me one _damn_ good reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out where you stand," Scott hissed into Ace's ear.

"I…don't have one," he replied.

"Ah ha ha ha! Now you see! Now you see the brilliance of my plan!"

"What plan?"

"Ah, you are blind. My plan, so beautifully constructed, even confuses you. Very well, while you stand there, debating with yourself whether to kill someone that had saved your daughter and her mutt boyfriend, I'll let you in on this plan of mine.

You see, I knew that a direct assault on your house would end in an almost one-hundred percent casualty rate, and I had created a super-soldier that would be in this assault squad. But he was still weak, too weak to face up against you. So with that in mind, I had him genetically modified and physically altered to beat you. The results stand in front of you. Here he is - Ace."

_These days drift on inside a fog  
It's thick and suffocating  
This seeking life outside its hell  
Inside intoxicating  
He's run aground  
Like his life  
Water's much too shallow  
Slipping fast  
Down with the ship  
Fading in the shadows now  
A castaway_

Ace was stunned. Him? A super-soldier? And designed to take out the one man who had taken him in for the past few days? No. He couldn't accept that.

"I don't believe you."

Giovanni stopped laughing. "What was that?"

Ace stood up straight. "I said I don't believe you. What makes you think that I would be able to kill the one person who took me under his wing for the past few days?"

A grin appeared on Giovanni's face. "Simple," he said, holding up a control pad with two buttons on it. "This allows me to control you. One button activates your neural chip, and forces you under my control, and the other is to terminate you."

"No…"Ace managed to say before Giovanni pressed the green button on the device.

Ace turned slack, head drooping a little before snapping back up, the red eyes more pronounced than ever in the dim lighting of the room.

'Ace?' Rose asked nervously.

Ace glanced at her, the penetrating glare from his red eyes locking with hers. As he raised his weapon, Orion jumped in front of Rose, fully intending to take the bullet for her.

"No…"

With a clatter, the weapon fell to the ground, and Ace clutched his head again, fighting the mind control.

"What is this…?" Giovanni sounded scared, and he pressed the green button repeatedly, as though he thought that would regain his control faster. This, however, had the reverse effect. Ace stood up to his full height, shot a death glare to Giovanni and stooped to pick up the dropped weapon.

"NO! You have to do as I command! I'll terminate you!"

"Then why haven't you done so already?"

Giovanni froze. The voice emanating from Ace sent Giovanni into a cold sweat. With one quick movement, Ace snapped up his rifle and pulled of a single shot, the round destroying the handheld controller and ripping off Giovanni's left hand along with it. As he screamed, Ace edged closer, fully intending to end the pathetic man, then and there.

"Got you."

A flash, a loud _bang_, and Ace was on his back, not knowing what had hit him, or why his chest felt so wet and sticky.

"NO!"

Scott ran up beside Ace, trying to stem the flow of blood that was seeping out of the wound caused by Giovanni's pistol.

"Garde -!"

Another flash, another _bang_, and Scott himself was looking at the object flying out of his chest, watching it as it spun, shattering upon the floor.

'_Scott?_'

He let out a roar, a primal, unearthly roar that set everyone on edge again.

"Giovanni, you fool…what have you done?"

Scott picked up the shattered remains of what was a Psychic Stone, and showed it to his family before turning towards Giovanni.

"…How?" Giovanni asked.

"I was already dead. I created this body for the sake of walking among the living once more. But there was one flaw in that body. It had to be built around an object. The object…was one of my Psychic Stones." Rose gasped, knowing instantly what her father had done. "Yes Rose, I had used one such stone as a catalyst to prevent my new body from rapid deterioration. But now that Giovanni shot it out…my Psychic powers are going to overload and release itself, causing a massive explosion. But now I ask you this, Giovanni…what type of ammunition did you use?"

Giovanni chuckled darkly yet again. "You're not the only one with Thorium weapons, Spartan."

Scott smiled, an emotionless, cold smile that wiped Giovanni's right off.

"Now that my catalyst has gone, I can fully heal Ace. The rest of you, get out of here.

'But dad -' Rose began.

"OUT!" Scott roared, a Psychic blast shoving them all out of the room. All of them, except -

'_I said I'm not leaving you._'

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Scott said, not looking at his mate.

_They've  
All gone  
Away_

'_Yes, I do, Scott,_' she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"NO!" he shouted, but it was too late. Gardevoir looked shocked as her own arm was absorbed into Scott, and could only watch in terror as the rest of her body was slowly disintegrating and being absorbed.

"No…Gardevoir…"

_They've gone away_

'_I'm so sorry…it's all my fault…_'

_How can I be lost  
If I've got nowhere to go?  
Search for seas of gold  
How come it's got so cold?  
How can I be lost  
In remembrance I relive_

**(Simultaneously, in co-ordination with the song)**

_And_ "_How can I blame you, when it's me I can't forgive?_" Scott whispered to his disappearing mate.

With one last smile, she disappeared into his body.

_Forgive me  
Forgive me not  
Forgive me  
Forgive me not  
Forgive me  
Forgive me not  
Forgive me  
Forgive me, why can't I forgive me?_

Scott stood up, rage filling his body, along with a new power.

'_**You think you can defeat me?**_' the voice rumbled in the air, and the form of Giratina appeared.

"So you're the one who took over Giovanni. I thought you were Boomeus' friend?"

Giratina laughed. '_**No, that would be my freak-loving sister. But now that you've figured me out, it won't take long for me to obliterate you and kill off Boomeus - after what he did to me!**_'

It was Scott's turn to laugh. "I don't think any of us is going to leave this compound tonight."

With that, Scott was surrounded by a blue glow that started to swirl around him, creating a sphere of energy.

"And I don't think I can defeat you," he started. "I _know_."

Suddenly, all the lights in the room flickered, slowly powering down as each bulb transferred their power to Scott.

_Set sail to sea but pulled off course  
By the light of golden treasure  
How could he know this new dawn's light  
Would change his life forever_

'My life,' Scott thought, as the swirling mass of energy pulsed around him, 'is finally over.'

With one last roar, he expanded the sphere of energy to encompass the entire room and its occupants, giving Giratina no chance to escape as Scott imploded, sucking in everything within the room to a singular point of brilliance, before -

_How can I be lost  
If I've got nowhere to go?  
Search for seas of gold  
How come it's got so cold?  
How can I be lost  
In remembrance I relive  
So how can I blame you  
When it's me I can't forgive?_

'I love you Rose.'

These were the last words transmitted to her as they watched the compound from the outside. Rose had teleported them to a safe distance on top of a hill, far enough away that they wouldn't be caught, but close enough to see the results. As soldiers ran into the main complex, the building shuddered, then exploded in a mass of grey concrete and blue energy.

Rose, who had been standing at the top of the hill, could only watch as tears fell, warm and burning down her face.

'Goodbye mom…goodbye…dad…' with that, she couldn't hold back anymore. She fell to her knees, covered her face with her hands and wept openly. Orion kneeled beside her, keeping her beside him.

The End.

* * *

A/N: What an ending. The final chapter in The Passage of Dimensional Darkness Trilogy has come to an end. The Epilogue is next…

- UBE Chief


	14. Epilogue

The Gravity of Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Nintendo, Game Freak and its affiliates do.

Epilogue

* * *

They stood over the four grave markers, all crying to a degree.

As they stood there, a few Pidgey tweeted their songs and a breeze wafted through the clearing.

A figure stepped out from the rest of the group, placing a set of flowers on two of the grave markers.

"Mommy? Who were these people?"

The green-white figure looked down at her son.

'They were our parents,' Rose said, tears falling faster.

"The rest of our relatives too?"

Rose couldn't help but giggle slightly at her son's innocent mind.

'No, but they were close friends of them. I should tell you about them sometime. Where's your sister?'

"With dad, walking. He said he couldn't stand here. Why?"

'It'll be one of those reasons why we still remember your grandparents, Scott.'

Scott looked up into his mother's face, curiosity shining like a beacon.

'Come,' Rose said, taking her son by the hand, 'let's go find your father.'

* * *

In yet another clearing, he was pacing around, trying to get a scent that had disappeared years ago.

"Dad?"

"Hmmm?"

"What're we looking for?"

"My old den. I used to live there, before...before..."

The little Riolu could sense her father's unwilling Aura, so she said, "Don't cry dad. You don't have to tell me."

Orion looked at his daughter. She and Scott acted like the original pair, and with luck, they'd find out what wonderful people they were.

With a soft _whoosh_, Rose and Scott appeared.

'Thought of a name for her yet, Orion?'

"I'm still wondering."

'Don't make me name her as well,' Rose said, a grin creeping on her face.

"Alright, alright, I have one. Kathy."

"Is that my name, dad?"

"If you want it to be," he replied.

Kathy let out a bark of happiness, and grabbed her brother and whirled him around.

* * *

"So Ace, thought about what you're going to do now?"

It was night time, and everyone was saying their goodbyes.

"Haven't thought about it much. I've thought about roaming around for a little while."

"Why don't you come with us?"

"Me? Come with you?"

"Sure, why not?" In a lower voice, he said, "Look, I know you've been sneaking peeks at Megan the whole day. Just come with us and keep her company."

Ace blushed, knowing full well that Boomeus meant what he said.

"Alright, I'll come."

"Great!" Boomeus said, clapping Ace on the shoulder. "Hey Megan!" he called over his shoulder, but Ace slapped him in the back of the head to shut him up.

"Don't tell her I'm interested in her!" Ace hissed.

'Yes, dad?' Megan giggled, blushing at the sight of Ace.

"Yeah, I know you two are going to be best friends," Boomeus said.

Ace facepalmed.

* * *

Fin.

A/N: Yes, I've decided that Arcane-Boomeus can have Ace in his series, so keep an eye out for him!

- UBE Chief

P.S. There's a new side-story to The PDD Trilogy: A Christmas Special! Keep a lookout for it (you may not find it easily, as it is a "T" rated story) and read it whenever.


End file.
